Kahaluu Bay
Kahaluu Bay
It’s time to prohibit fishing in the bay
Kahaluu Bay is the No. 1 destination for tourists on the Kona Coast. Reef-Tech volunteers, of which I am one, help hundreds of visitors each day enjoy the unique underwater reef views and up-close interactions with resident sea turtles and other magnificent marine life.
When the Kahaluu Education Center was dedicated, Mayor Billy Kenoi praised the staff and volunteers for “bringing back, protecting and saving our reefs and the life in the bay.”
In obscene contradiction, fishermen, especially with spear guns, continue to be permitted by law and tradition to violate this natural aquarium, depleting the variety and number of undersea populations and severely damaging the fragile and irreplaceable reefs. There are near-misses with spears close to snorkelers and swimmers. Poking and prodding of spears to dislodge and capture octopi is also unacceptable behavior.
Would we allow gun-wielding hunters into a zoo to slaughter caged animals and menace innocent visitors? Of course not, and so must we remove and prohibit intrusive commercial and “sport” fishermen in the bay.
All the good works dedicated volunteers, like me, and our outstanding county lifeguards are drowning in the tsunami of poachers with marine weapons of mass destruction when the entire ocean is a few laps beyond.
A choice is forced on us. Either we keep the promise of restoring and protecting Kahaluu Bay, or we surrender to the spear fishermen allowing them to confiscate the treasure.
Let’s get the law changed.
Hollis Mallardi
Kona
Mass transit
County bus fares should be raised
One consideration about subsidized bus fares — even paying $3 for a one-way ride, which is $6 roundtrip, for five days is $30. For four weeks, that would be $120. Few people can maintain a vehicle for less than $120 per month, with insurance, gas, oil changes, other maintenance.
Taking the bus for only $1 is a really good deal, subsidized by taxpayers who must maintain their own cars.
Raising the fare to $3 should not be a hardship on anyone. If it is, perhaps they could prove why and get a special exemption.
But, overall, I think the rate needs to be increased; if these folks used their own vehicles, they would be paying much more.
Bekke Hess
Manteca, Calif.