Seven years ago, Kailua-Kona charter boat captain Ray LeMay felt the squeeze begin at manta ray dive sites.
As more and more boats congregated to bring wide-eyed visitors to the wonders of the giant creatures and their nocturnal feeding activities, LeMay moved his own tours later into the night to avoid the crowds.
Even so, he felt the squeeze once again as more than 40 companies vied to put up to 300 people in the water at once to snorkel and dive near Kona International Airport and Makako Bay in Keauhou — Kona’s two most popular sites.
“The last few years have gotten out of control at these sites,” said LeMay, co-owner of Blue Sea Cruises. “When you have 20 to 30 boats in a small area, you’re asking for problems. It’s become a safety issue for the people in the water, and it’s not good for the animals.”
LeMay said he welcomes a new effort by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources to regulate potentially dangerous overcrowding at manta ray sites. Although the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation won’t have a set of draft rules until early next year, the provisions likely are to include a permitting system and the requirement for boats to operate in shifts.
DOBOR administrator Ed Underwood said new rules likely will reduce tours and have financial impacts, but operators see the need for regulation and are onboard.
But tour boat owners also have apprehension and say they want the new rules to be fair. They say a large part of the problem was created by the state a couple of years ago when DLNR issued numerous ramp permits, opening up the manta tours to many new businesses without considering it might not be sustainable.
“Once the flood is in, how do you change that?” LeMay asked. “That’s the problem.”
Katie Key, shop manager of Kona Diving Co., isn’t surprised new regulations are coming down considering the way she’s seen the tours mushroom in the past six years.
“It’s no longer a small community of 10 companies working together and talking it out when there are problems,” she said.
Key said she knows some operators don’t support new regulations.
“But I think the majority are cautiously optimistic this will help the industry as a whole and protect the resource,” she said.
Rob Hemsher, owner of Ocean Eco Tours, is concerned the rules are coming too late, and the enterprise now is such a money-maker new regulations might end up shutting down businesses and jobs.
“How are they going to make it fair?” Hemsher asked. “What about a company that has one boat versus one that has three? Are you going to shut them down?”
“I don’t think running us in shifts is the answer; there’s no way for them to even enforce it,” Hemsher said. “I don’t think we need any more regulation. I do think they need to stop issuing new permits. We’re right on the edge of what the industry can handle. More moorings, spread them out, and we would be just fine.”
Other tour operators echo Hemsher’s call for moorings, saying they are needed badly to bring order and keep anchors off reefs. A report prepared for DLNR by Marine Science Consulting noted multiple boats often are forced to tie off to a single mooring. The report also found the mix of boats and people in the water inevitably will lead to serious injury.
Key said she would like to see training of crews for boat handling and responsible interaction with mantas. The sudden growth in the industry meant companies needed to staff quickly, and knowledge sometimes is lacking on the biology side, she said.
Kohala Rep. Cindy Evans is pleased to see DLNR addressing the problem. Evans introduced legislation in 2014 to restrict entry into the manta ray tour business through a permitting system. That bill died because DOBOR officials said the issue should be handled through a rule-making process rather than legislation, Evans said.
“It was the public that came to me to say how dangerous it was becoming,” Evans said. “No one was managing the sites and way too many people were in the water. Someone was going to get hurt. You want to take action before that happens.”
Email Bret Yager at byager@westhawaiitoday.com.
