Shark's Cove fishing ban stuns old-timers

By Will Hoover
Advertiser North Shore Writer

In a simpler age, the public notice would have been so short — two words — that any Tom Sawyer or Huck Finn would have had no doubt about its meaning:

John Lane stands near new rules posted at Shark's Cove. Aside from finding the sign confusing, he's miffed that spear fishers have lost access to their favorite waters. Cory Lum • The Honolulu Advertiser

Those days are gone.

Yoshio Tsue, 79, was just a kid the first time he fished at Shark's Cove, and he said he and his children and grandchildren have fished there together many times over the years. But last week, when told that fishing hasn't been allowed at the popular destination for more than two months, he didn't believe it.

"You can pole-fish," said Tsue, who has lived for more than half a century directly across the road from Shark's Cove. To back up his claim, Tsue pointed to a wordy, technically written sign that was recently planted in the sand across from his home.

A more careful reading, though, showed that the sign actually says fishing is no longer allowed at Shark's Cove.

Decades of fishing tradition are colliding with new restrictions intended to preserve the sea life and prevent overfishing at this noted angling spot. The changes affect hundreds of O'ahu residents accustomed to hooking, netting or spearing their fish here.

Though the rules took more than three years to draft and went into effect in late March, many ocean users such as Tsue are just now learning how severe the restrictions are.

What is allowed is pole-fishing at the Waimea Bay end of the 170-acre Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District, which includes Shark's Cove at its Sunset Beach end.

That's it, save for the 2 pounds of limu that can be harvested by seaweed gatherers.

Tsue doesn't get it, and he isn't the only person scratching his head.

"We've had people come in who don't understand the new rules," said Barry Sweet, proprietor of the Hale'iwa Fishing Supply. "They don't know if the new rules have gone into effect or if the new rules will be going into effect."

The rule changes are the result of a protracted community input process initiated in 1999 by Sen. Robert Bunda, D-22nd (Wahiawa, Waialua, Sunset Beach), and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.

After numerous meetings, the Pupukea Task Force — consisting of representatives from 10 interest factions — made recommendations to greatly expand the preserve to include Waimea Bay and to restrict fishing-related activities.

In a nutshell, the new rules prohibit all fishing in the district with the exception of pole-fishing from the shore of Waimea Bay where for years, in late summer and early fall, hundreds have pole-fished from the shoreline for halalu, or young akule.

David Hara, who represented the recreational fishers at Pupukea, presented the task force with a petition signed by 800 people asking that recreational fishing in some form be allowed within the district. He's pleased that traditional halalu fishing will continue to be permitted at Waimea Bay, but he is not happy that he and his friends will never fish Shark's Cove again.

"Shark's Cove is done," said Hara, who lives at Sunset Beach. "I haven't seen the new sign yet. I was too sad to look at it. I thought this was going to be my retirement fishing haven."

The changes were needed, said Alton Miyasaka of the DLNR's Division of Aquatic Resources, because too many competing factions — pole fishers, spear fishers, commercial net fishers, recreational fishers, divers, snorkelers, tide pool explorers, boaters and scientists, among others — were compromising the preserve's waters.

"There was a growing conflict between the user groups," said Miyasaka.

Bunda had sounded the alarm because he was worried about the depletion of marine life at Pupukea, which had more fishing exemptions than any other of Hawai'i's 10 Marine Life Conservation Districts.

The new rules were a compromise among task force members. About the only thing everyone in the community agreed on was that something needed to be done at the Pupukea district, which was established in 1983 to protect the ecosystem.

"I can definitely see a need for conservation," Sweet said. "But the problem from the recreational fishermen's standpoint is that Three Tables (near Shark's Cove) is the only place on the North Shore where they can catch akule, which is not an endangered fish. In other words, they're cutting those people off for no good reason."

"I like the idea of making the reserve bigger," added Joe Greene, who owns the Surf-N-Sea surfing and scuba shop. "But it's like they made too many rules. I don't even know if it's enforceable."

John Lane, whose wife, Wilma, was an alternate member of the task force, is not happy with the outcome. Characterizing the new rules as difficult to comprehend, he points to the Shark's Cove sign as an example. He's also miffed that spear fishers are subject to fines if they use the reserve to gain access to spearfishing waters.

"There was no consideration to these people whatsoever," Lane said. "They cannot even cross this area with their gear. And they should have left a small area outside the mouth of the cove for pole fishermen who have been fishing here for years."

Any way you look at it, though, the conservation district had become "significantly diminished" because of overfishing, said Bob Leinau.

"Invariably, most of the special-interest groups say it's the other guy — the net guys say it's the fishermen, the fishermen say it's the divers," said Leinau, who represented the North Shore Neighborhood Board on the task force. "Hardly anybody's saying, 'Hey, what if we all back off and give the natural resources a chance to prosper?'"

Leinau admitted that the new rules are tough for folks like Yoshio Tsue.

"You can't always balance the greatest good against one individual's personal interest," he said. "There needs to be places set aside. And some guys do lose. If a guy has fished out there all his life and then he's told you can't do that anymore, he is giving up something for future generations.

"Is it for the highest good? I think so."

Miyasaka said the new rules will be less confusing after people undergo a "period of education." So far, DLNR enforcement officers have issued few, if any, citations, and are concentrating on informing the public about the new rules.

"We're talking to these people," officer Roger Dainard said. "You've got old residents and Hawaiians who have been fishing that area for a long, long time. We're doing our very best to get folks to understand this is the way it is now."

Reach Will Hoover at whoover@honoluluadvertiser.com or 525-8038.