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Study: Despite feeding ban,
bay’s fish still dependent

By Pat Gee
Star-Bulletin

Fish that for years got handouts from visitors at Hanauma Bay are still hanging about "waiting for the good old days to come back," says Richard Brock, a scientist who has been studying the area since May.

Brock, a fisheries specialist with the University of Hawaii Sea Grant College Program, said, "I haven't seen a whole heck of a lot of change" in the shallow waters even though people have been forbidden from feeding them since a state ban went into effect in April.

The Sea Grant program has a one-year contract to see if the ban by the Department of Land and Natural Resources would increase the diversity of fish in the keyhole area of the bay. Over the years, two types of fish -- the nuenue and surgeon -- predominated in the shallow waters.

The department had hoped the ban would increase the population of wrasse, butterfly, damsel and goat fish so there would be more "balance in the fish community," Brock said.

Another purpose of the ban was to reduce the overall number of fish in the area to encourage the regrowth of algae and coral.

Said Brock: "Fish have a learned behavior. They know when there's going to be kau kau -- food -- there. And it's going to take time for them to unlearn it and how to behave at Hanauma Bay."

The $100,000-a-year study was funded by a grant from the city Department of Parks and Recreation, which could extend it two more years, he said.

Brock said he was one of the few people who opposed the ban, not because he disagreed with the ecological reasons, but because feeding the fish "provided an educational opportunity for the public. If you can get the fish to come real close to you, someone can be there explaining and teaching about that variety ... But they've closed the door on that."