![]() ![]() The nonprofit Manta Pacific Research Foundation worked with the Coast Guard, DOBOR and tour operators in 2013 to develop voluntary standards and best practices for the manta tours that are widely followed by the local industry, with some outliers. ![]() If they only recognize the two sites and they start closing things down, we’re just going to have 50 boats at Mauna Kea (a less popular viewing site), where the waters are shallower and there’s increased risks from boat propellers.” “It’s designed for the locations, not for the activity. ![]() “It’s good that we’re getting something going but the document is flawed in so many ways,” said Laros, who is also a master scuba diver trainer for Jack’s Diving Locker, which offers manta tours. ![]() He also offered a broad calculation that anywhere from 41,000 to 113,000 people participate in the manta tours annually. THE DIRECT economic impact of manta ray tourism at the Kona sites alone was roughly estimated at $6.2 million in 2017, but Keller Laros, founder and president of the Manta Pacific Research Foundation in Kailua-Kona, says the figure now could be as high as $12.4 million in tour sales. The proposed changes and rules, to be added under Hawaii Administrative Rules Chapters 13-230 and 13-256, would apply only to commercial activities and would not stop the general public from manta ray viewing on stand-up boards, kayaks and other vessels or swimming out from the shoreline, as many people do.Īfter testimony Thursday from a number of tour operators and others, the Board of Land and Natural Resources gave DOBOR the green light to move forward with the rule-making process, including public hearings that have yet to be scheduled. Additionally, operators would be limited to a maximum of 60 passengers within any 24-hour period.Īnother rule would ban manta tours within 7 miles of the two zones, preventing unpermitted operators from running tours just outside the boundaries and drawing mantas away from authorized viewing sites.įirst-time rule violations would result in permit suspension for up to 30 days, with escalating penalties for repeat offenders. Other proposed rules allow no more than 24 commercial manta ray viewing permits for each designated zone and set viewing hours in two-hour shifts from 4 p.m. The new permit and other rules governing the tours would be in effect at two designated manta ray viewing zones in the West Hawaii Ocean Recreation Management Area - at Makako Bay, more commonly known as Garden Eel Cove, and Kaukalaelae Point, near Keauhou Bay.ĭOBOR said that for now, only those two spots are being proposed as viewing zones since they are the most established and can serve as pilot sites for refining future regulations. Sixty to 70 vessels - ranging from outrigger canoes to boats carrying 50-plus passengers - are currently engaged in manta ray viewing tours off Kona, according to state officials, resulting in overcrowding, safety concerns and user conflicts that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation is hoping to curb by drafting Hawaii’s first-ever manta ray viewing regulations.Ĭompanies running the tours already must possess commercial use permits issued by the state, but the proposed rules would require an additional permit created specifically for commercial manta ray viewing that would come with a monthly fee of $300. Tours offering close encounters with manta rays have become a must-do activity for many Hawaii visitors, especially at two sites off the Kona Coast where vessels deposit hundreds of snorkelers and scuba divers nightly to observe the graceful marine creatures as they feed on thick columns of zooplankton attracted by artificial lighting. ![]()
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