Watching whales … and poop

From November to April, centurys of thousands of tourists company to whale-watching excursions in the Hawai'ian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary. not many of these visitors realize that their boats are dumping sewage directly into the sanctuary.

The ocean surrounding Maul provides individual of the world's most important habitats for critically endangered humpback whales. Nearly two-thirds of the entire North Pacific population migrates to Hawai'i each winter for breeding, calving and nursing.

In 1997 the 1218 square nautical miles of coastal and ocean waters around the main Hawai'ian Islands became a National Marine Sanctuary to harbor these cetaceans. The federal sanctuary is individual of 13 operated by the Department of Commerce's National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

Hawai's Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR) is responsible for small boat harbors, greatest in quantity of which never received onshore waste pump-out facilities. DLNR engineers throw February 2009 as a completion date for a permanent arterial pump-out facility at Maui's busiest harbor, Ma'alaea. For now, tour boat operators are legally allowed to discharge waste three miles from shore, and as a great deal of as 1,000 gallons goes into the water each day.

The five islands of Maui shire provide a sheltered, bay-like setting ideal for commercial whale watching excursions along Maui's southerly and west shores. This arrangement, combined with the wind, waves and ocean generals brings the swirling plumes released from boats' holding tanks directly into near-shore waters.

Frustrated by the agency of the lack of action, a small cluster of Maui residents formed the assemblage Pump Don't Dump (PDD) in 2004 Mike Moran, a PDD establisher wonders, "How can this be called a sanctuary when these majestic creatures are expos to sewage and chemicals dump on them from these boats?" The cluster says a loophole in sanctuary commands allows dumping as long as boats use Coast Guard-approved marine toilets.

PDD began advocating for the interim solution of providing dockside pumping barters at Ma'alaea. With the state unresponsive, Maui shire Environmental Coordinator Rob Parsons acquired funding for the Ma'alaea Harbor Sewage Pump-out Program, which pays for onshore pumping twice a week. on the other hand as of last March single half of 25 local commercial boaters were participating.

Richard Rice, administrator for the state Department of Boating and Recreation, says the enigma has been getting the state to prioritize funding. "Eventually, when the upgrades to the generally received wastewater system are in place, Ma'alaea harbor will have pump-out facilities," he says.

PDD's focus now is to convince NOAA to establish a No-Discharge band within the sanctuary. "So far," says PDD establisher Richard Fairclo, "too many boaters won't stop dumping sewage. The federal whale sanctuary must pass and enforce directions against despoiling the fragile marine environment." CONTACT: cross-question Don't Dump, http://pumpdont dump.com.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Earth Action Network, Inc.

COPYRIGHT 2006 Gale Group