HONOLULU, Hawaii -- When the hala trees blossom here, nativeHawaiians are apt to say, 'Ai naki ka mano' -- the shark issnapping its jaws.
Throughout the Hawaiian islands last month, the hala treesbloomed with white spiny flowers. And the sharks? They bared theirteeth in a spate of chilling encounters with surfers and bodyboarders that has prompted a public outcry for a massive shark huntto rid the aquamarine waters off Oahu of the snub-nosed predators.
The attacks -- including one that killed an 18-year-old man --sent fishermen out to sea with baited hooks to catch the culprits.Scientists and state officials discussed implementing ashark-control program in the land of Aloha, where cliff-studdedshores, pristine beaches and high-riding surf support a $10 billiona year tourist industry.
And native Hawaiians, whose cultural and religious heritageembody the flora and fauna of the Pacific island chain, renewedtheir concerns about the potential wholesale slaughter of sharks,an animal revered by some members of the indigenous population as a'guardian spirit.'
Be it owl, eel or shark, 'that animal guards the person'sfamily for as long as two or three generations. They become anaumakua, a guardian for the family,' said Parley Kanakaole, aHawaiian community leader on the neighboring island of Maui.
When a Maui woman was killed by a Tiger shark last Novemberwhile swimming within 100 yards of her waterfront home, menespousing the Hawaiian belief of aumakua threatened the fishermenhired to hunt the attacker.
Since then, state officials have enlisted the support ofHawaiian leaders in their quest to strike a balance between watersports enthusiasts who support an eradication program, such as theone implemented in the late 1960s that fished thousands of tigersharks from island waters, and the naturalists who liken man'spresence in the water to an invasion of the shark's domain.
Everyone has a theory about the apparent increase in sharkattacks -- seven have been reported on Oahu, Hawaii's most populousisland, and its sister isle, Maui, since the spring of 1991.
There's the notion that a preponderance of sea turtles inshallow waters off Oahu (a protected species on which sharks feed)have lured sharks closer to shore. Some believe that the sharkshave mistaken body boarders -- whose arms and legs flop over theedges of their brightly colored boards -- for turtles.
Unlike Florida, where commercial and recreational fishing haveso depleted the shark population that federal officials are tryingto protect 39 species, marine biologists here estimate that thereare 1.8 tiger sharks for every mile of shoreline. And in Hawaii,where surfing is a rite of passage for most young men and wherechildren sometimes learn to swim before they can walk, sharkattacks are front-page news.
Rick Gruzinsky, a 26-year-old carpenter, lived to tell thestory of his tug-of-war with a shark that tore a chunk from hisfiberglass surfboard on a blue-sky morning in October. AaronRomento wasn't as lucky. Although the 18-year-old managed to paddleto shore on his body board after the Nov. 5 attack, he bled todeath from a deep gash on his leg.
As in the past, state officials hunted the offshore waters forthe attacker.
'Once you have an attack or an incident, a number of us feelthe best thing to do is to fish that area immediately,' says JohnJ. Naughton, a biologist with the National Marine Fisheries Servicein Honolulu. 'As with any large predator, if they have fedsuccessfully in an area, there's a chance they would return to feedagain.'
A line with a dozen hooks, each baited with slabs of ahi ortuna, was set at dusk. At dawn, the haul was reeled in. About ahalf-dozen tiger sharks were caught -- including a 14-footer.Autopsies revealed nothing to link the sharks to the attacks.
But several marine researchers familiar with the huntsquestioned their effect.
'You could set a hundred hooks for a hundred nights and nevercatch a shark. And the next day you could have a shark attack,'says Steve Kaiser, a marine curator at Honolulu's Sea Life Park whosupports additional research into shark behaviors. 'It's a veryfragile type of balance . . . If you are totally terrified ofsharks, stay in a swimming pool.'
Recently, Hawaii's task force on sharks weighed in with itssolution: Aggressively hunt large tiger sharks at six sites onOahu, including the relatively placid waters off Waikiki and thefamous surfing pipeline along the island's North Shore.
'We are expanding our shark hunt guidelines from 'large sharksthat bite' to 'large sharks before they bite,' ' said William Paty,task force chairman.
A special phone number -- 58-SHARK -- was established andmilitary helicopters are scouring the shoreline for possiblesuspects. Paty pledged to 'remain sensitive' to native Hawaiianbeliefs regarding sharks. Hawaiian elders will continue to beconsulted during shark hunts.
But, he said, 'We cannot sit around and twiddle our thumbs,because the evidence is clear we have a public safety problem.'
