Whale-season thrillcraft ban reinstated

By Timothy Hurley
Advertiser Maui Bureau

A whale-season ban on the operation of parasail boats and personal watercraft in Maui waters will go into effect tomorrow after all following a federal judge's ruling yesterday.

U.S. District Judge Susan Mollway granted a 30-day stay on her previously issued injunction invalidating the Dec. 15-to-May 15 measure that aims to protect humpback whales in their winter habitat off Maui.

The move recognizes the fact that the law changed when President Bush signed the federal omnibus appropriations bill last week. The legislation contained a provision, introduced by U.S. Sen. Dan Inouye, D-Hawai'i, that gives the state authority to enforce the Maui thrillcraft ban.

State Deputy Attorney General Bill Wynhoff said the judge's stay will give him time to ask the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals to send the case back to Mollway for reconsideration, in light of the new law.

A representative of the plaintiffs, UFO Parasail and Kaanapali Tours, could not be reached yesterday, but their attorney argued in court that the companies spent significant amounts of money preparing to remain open this season and any stay would be unfair, Wynhoff said.

Operators earlier said they had planned to stay in business only until early January and then voluntarily shut down until about late March.

The thrillcraft ban was established in 1990 as an additional protection in the primary breeding area for the North Pacific population of humpback whales.

The operators challenged the law and won. Mollway in July ruled that the ban violates federal law because states aren't allowed to act independently to safeguard federally protected marine mammals.

The state appealed the case.

Yesterday, Mollway issued a stay through Jan. 14, or until the higher court sends the case back. She also indicated she was willing to reconsider the case, should the case return to her.

Reach Timothy Hurley at thurley@honoluluadvertiser.com or (808) 244-4880.