Feds look into
whale-watching death
A federal wildlife agency has begun an investigation into possible rule violations that could be responsible for a 3-year-old Virginia boy's death last week aboard a whale watch boat, officials said last week.
The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration Fisheries Office for Law Enforcement is looking into the Christmas Day accident in which Ryker Hamilton was killed, according to Mark Oswell, a spokesman for the agency.
Attorneys for the Hamilton family say a whale was spotted from the American Dream operated by Dream Cruises Hawaii from 300 to 400 yards away, but the skipper continued to move toward the mammal until striking it.
A preliminary Coast Guard investigation cleared American Dream captain Monroe Wightman of any wrongdoing and said he maneuvered the boat in an attempt to avoid the mammal. But Chief Petty Officer Ken Thompson, who's in charge of the Coast Guard investigation, said it's premature to make any conclusion about the case.
The Coast Guard investigation focuses on the accident, while NOAA's inquiry is to determine if Dream Cruises Hawaii violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act. If the boat continued to move within 100 yards of the whale after the crew became aware of its presence, it was a violation of federal rules that protect the endangered humpbacks.
Officials at Dream Cruises Hawaii, which does business as Aqua Marine Hawaii, Inc., did not immediately respond to calls from the Associated Press placed Monday and Tuesday.
The company has said that Wightman followed procedure and stopped the boat when the whale surfaced.
Mike Watson, the company president, said the fatal incident was "a tragic freak accident" that occurred after the whale surfaced unexpectedly.
The Hamiltons left last week for their home in Norfolk, Va., where the child will be buried.
Thousands of people take whale-watching tours in Hawaii every year when humpbacks travel from their feeding grounds off Alaska to the warm island waters where they breed.
Three collisions with boats were reported in the first months of 2003, at the end of the last whale season, which typically runs from December to April. Two collisions were reported in 2002.