Posted on: Thursday, July 11, 2002
ISLAND VOICES
Forget about new aquarium
By Emerson Burnett
O'ahu resident
Last year I wrote about Hawai'i needing an undersea observatory vessel, not another aquarium. It is even more true this year. What we need is a "U-SEA" underwater observatory and hotel.
At this point, O'ahu has four aquariums (Waikiki, Sea Life Park, Pacific Beach Hotel and DFS Galleria). We do not need a fifth.
We're past the point were we can allow marine animals to be netted, hooked, trawled and then handled and thrust into an artificial tank in chlorinated water "till death do us part."
In Hawai'i, for instance, long-liners claim their nefarious efforts are daily feeding our appetite for marine food. Since Hawai'i is considered to have been "fished out" for some 20 years, it is shocking that long-liners not only continue to operate, but there are reports that long-liners have lines out as far as 80 miles.
Shudder and consider how much loss of so many forms of life those lines cause in our superb seas.
Back on land, Jeff Stone and Mariott have brought great progress in building up Ko Olina. But is their proposed $100 million artificial fish tank sustainable?
If jobs and taxes are the goal of this project, the U-SEA concept fits the bill. It was designed by a very conservative accountant to make profits and pay taxes. And it would bring more and more visitors to Hawai'i to learn about and enjoy living sea life in its natural element. Visitors would enjoy the most marvelous underseas experience in our world.
There are certain fundamental things a nation should do to keep the creative pot stirring. The energetic sponsorship of new technical ideas and advanced education is one of them. If this nation does not continue to sponsor experimentation in our seas, I fear it will not happen.
Our superb seas that feed and earn us so much will not be sustained without U-SEA.
Virtually every marine scientist, mariner and sea lover, including all Hawai'i visitors and residents who have seen our proposed U-SEA underseas hotel and viewing station, warmly approve this unique, natural savior of our seas.
President John F. Kennedy said, "Knowledge of the oceans is more than a matter of curiosity. Our very survival may depend on it."
So, let's put the aquarium in the sea, where we would come to view and live with the animals.
How many of our most prized marine animals will new, huge artificial tanks kill? Thousands of the sea's most sought-after marine species will be required. In capturing all these prized species, some will be killed. In the artificial tank, the necessary chlorine will kill more.
The U-SEA underwater hotel and viewing system would be unique in our world, offering memorable true sights and sounds. Dolphins and small whales could swim in and visit. These unhooked, unnetted, undriven, natural magnificent marine animals would visit and depart as they wish.
They would be cared for by trained marine scientists. U-SEA staterooms would offer hemispheric windows to enhance viewing and basic safety.
U-SEA's divers would dive all around O'ahu to check and remove trash, and photograph and count natural marine animal species from shore to about 500 feet out to sea.
They would build up a perpetual U-SEA inventory of the life and conditions surrounding our island paradise.
