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Here's a letter we received from Safe Waters for Hawaii. Stand up paddlers invited!: When: Saturday, Feb. 20th, 2010
Where: Haleiwa Harbor
Time: 10am - 12pm
Meet at Haleiwa Beach Park at 9:30am
Wear a red t-shirt/tank
Bring your signs, ti-leaf, surfboards, OC-1's, OC-6's, SUP boards and join Hui O He'e Nalu and the North Shore Community Mahalo for your continued vigilance to stop the illegal feeding of sharks in the state waters of Hawai’i for commercial activities. Mahalo for your commitment to see this illegal practice end.
Community member and community organizations, who are part of Safe Waters for Hawai’i, have been working with elected officials and government agencies to see how we can end the practice of the illegal shark feeding in the waters of Hawai’i.
IMPORTANT!!!!
Hui O He'e Nalu, Da Hui, the legendary ocean guardians from the North Shore have put an immediate call out to the statewide community to ask for your support by joining a community protest rally at 10am on Saturday, Feb. 20th, 2010 in Haleiwa from 10a-12pm (flyer attached below). They have asked Safe Waters for Hawai'i to help spread the word via the web.
Da Hui also asks you wear a red shirt/tank top to represent our connection to the kupuna who came before us, who cared for our ocean waters, and how we today must continue to malama the ocean, as they did, for the keiki who follow us. The thread of aloha for the ocean runs between, and connects generations, and we must do what is right for our ocean, ocean ecosystem and for the sharks which are 'aumakua (family gods) to many Hawaiian families.
All of you involved in Safe Waters for Hawai'i had a major impact in creating legislation to ban shark viewing tours in Maui, the community of the North Shore is asking for your help with the statewide legislation. They know by having you join them in Haleiwa, it will make a powerful statement to our elected officials and government agencies, that illegal shark feeding on viewing tours needs to end immediately. The North Shore community created a petition which, in a very short span of time, has over a 1,000 signatures of community members who want the shark tour operations to end in the waters of Haleiwa. The surf capital of the world is on the North Shore of O'ahu and these legendary surf waters should not be tainted by the continual illegal feeding of sharks for commercial exploitation.
What's alarming is the move this legislative session by the elected representatives from the North Shore community, Rep. Magaoay and Sen. Bunda, who are working to exempt the North Shore shark tour operators in their introduced legislation to ban shark tours in the state of Hawai'i while allowing the operations in the North Shore to continue, thus creating a monopoly of shark tour operations on the North Shore of O'ahu that use illegal feeding to gather sharks.
Community members statewide have have let it be known shark viewing tours and illegal feeding are unacceptable and are not tolerated in their home ocean waters of Hawai'i. Why then should illegal shark feeding tours be acceptable in the ocean waters of Haleiwa? They should not be.
This coming Saturday morning, February 20th, maybe you and your friends are going to spend a few hours out paddling, swimming or surfing, or in any other type of ocean activity or with your halau dancing - Da Hui asks you to please think about spending those few hours with them and joining their community, our North Shore neighbors, in their rally to stop illegal shark feeding and shark viewing tours in Haleiwa.
For more information on the community protest rally, please contact Mahina Chillingsworth, Vice President, Hui O He'e Nalu at:
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Mahalo to the Na Wahine O Ke Kai, Womens Moloka'i to O'ahu Canoe Race Commission, Halau Hula Namakahonuakapiliwale and Hawaiian-Pipeline.com who have recently joined the efforts of Safe Waters for Hawai'i. The Safe Waters for Hawai'i grassroots community movement now has over 40 community organizations and theses groups reflect a diverse group of thousands and thousands of people statewide who are deeply concerned about this most serious issue.
Please forward this to others.
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