Shark sightings
close Maui beaches

Five sharks spotted this week
likely were after dead fishes

WAILUKU » West Maui officials were to determine this morning if it is safe to open beaches to the public after multiple tiger shark sightings closed them two days ago.

Coastal waters closed to the public since Wednesday morning have extended about a mile, from Slaughterhouse to Honolua Bay, and include the Honolua-Mokuleia Bay Marine Life Conservation District.

Signs have also been posted south at the nearby D.T. Fleming Beach Park to warn the public to be cautious.

State enforcement officials working with county lifeguards were scheduled to review conditions this morning to determine if the waters may be reopened to the public.

County ocean safety Capt. Cary Kayama said five tiger sharks were seen yesterday in Honolua Bay, and he saw a tiger shark Wednesday that was 12 feet long.

State education specialist Russell Sparks said the sharks were probably attracted to more than 100 dead akule fish.

State officials said warning signs were posted at D.T. Fleming Beach Park and Slaughterhouse, where sharks were not seen, out of fear that the scent of the dead fish might drift south and attract predators.

State conservation enforcement officials suspect a commercial fishing operation was responsible for the dead fish, said their Maui branch chief, Randy Awo.

Awo said enforcement officers do not know if the fishing was done inside or outside the state marine conservation district at Honolua Bay, because by the time they arrived the akule were drifting along the shoreline.

"We're still in the process of finding who may be responsible for that," Awo said yesterday.

"It's not necessarily illegal, but it's not a practice we condone. ... When there's that many fish in the water, something has clearly gone wrong."

Sparks said when commercial fishermen catch akule, they sometimes use nets that gather them in a ball, and some of the fish that escape are bruised and later die.

He said a similar incident caused by a commercial fishing operation occurred five to six years ago in waters off D.T. Fleming Beach Park.