I am writing to on behalf of the Marine Connection, a UK based charity concerned with the conservation and protection of dolphins, whales and the marine environment. It has been brought to our attention that there are currently some vessels which moor at Ma’alaea Harbour who refuse to participating in the government sponsored pump-out programme and we wish to ask you to intervene to address this issue.

Ma’alaea Harbour is one of the busiest harbours in the State of Hawaii yet we are given to understand that there are no pump out facilities at the harbour? Visiting vessels are asked to utilize the services of the dockside pumper truck which collects sewage and transports it to a land-based treatment facility. However as this is costly it would appear that some operators choose to dump the sewage at sea rather than incur the expense and this could have very serious consequences for marine life in the area.

Furthermore, we would question what laws there are against this practice being carried out in the National Marine Sanctuary? Surely it would make sense to have this valuable Hawaiian marine area declared a “no dump zone” and we would ask if this has been considered by the government and if not, why?

The Sanctuary is a valuable attraction to tourists who visit year after year to see the Humpback whales which are the focus of their holiday destination choice and to endanger the future of this area and the marine mammals that rely on the protection of this area makes no sense – for the welfare of the marine environment and also for the effects this could potentially have on the tourist industry in the area.

In view of this we would encourage the authorities to enforce stricter regulations to protect the humpback whales within this protected area and also request that those businesses who currently choose to dump sewage in this area, actively participate in the pumping out programme to help protect the whales and their environment.

Thank you for taking the time to read our correspondence and we hope to receive your comments in the near future regarding the future protection of these magnificent marine mammals in Hawaiian’ waters from the effects of sewage dumping.

Yours sincerely

Margaux Dodds
Director & Co-founder
Marine Connection (UK)