I was on the North Shore this evening (Saturday) watching over 5AY and P02 for the afternoon shift, all was good and mom and pup are doing great. (certainly very different looking than Ewa Girl and P01).
Anyway, while I was there a guy (beach goer) and 2 Japanese tourist came up and when I asked who they were they said they were passing by. At first it was no big deal, BUT then there were two things that came up as a concern.... FIRST the location of 5AY is a non disclosed location and is surrounded by PRIVATE PROPERTY... The property owners are being extremely generous in letting us set up and watch the pup... and after meeting Bernard a couple of times he really wants to do what is best for the seals... BUT he was not happy to have these people on his property. Apparently they parked on the path and walked down the dirt road.... We do not want to disrespect these homeowners.....
The SECOND concern and actually a bit more disturbing... John (the beach goer) was told by someone just yesterday (Friday) by a volunteer who was at the site where "right spot" popped up that there was a mother and pup down the beach! This is not cool..... and now this man thinks its okay to bring tourist to see the pup.... Does anyone else see the problem with this?
Okay so in the end PLEASE PLEASE remember we are volunteers.... our only objective should be to protect this species and to be respectful of others who are helping us help them.
Please feel free to email me or comment!
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2 comments:
I agree with regard to not publicizing the pup locations.
Two points: first, this website is rather specific about the vicinity of the pups. Instead of leaving it at "North Shore," the website has numerous mentions of Mokuleia & Waialee, neither of which is a very large area. Therefore, the pup locations are fairly easy to determine simply by using this site's info. (If you choose to rectify that on the website, please be sure to remove this comment as well so that the locations remain undisclosed.)
Second, there is no such thing as a private beach in the State of Hawai`i. The closest thing is beach abutting military land, which is off limits because federal law supercedes state law. However, where privately held land is concerned, the beaches themselves are owned by the public, not by the landowners whose land abuts the beach. There are also laws stating that all beaches are to be accessible by the public. See HRS 115, etc. HOW that access is allowed is still being worked out, as can be seen by the Kailua conflict. I am indeed pleased and grateful for the landowner's generosity in allowing access to the seals' location via his property. I simply feel compelled to point out that by law and as upheld numerous times by the Hawai`i Supreme Court, all beaches are considered public property in this State.
Aloha!
Thanks for the comments.... and excellent points..
Your absolutley right about the private vs public beach and that is my error in phrasing it that way. The landowner was UPSET because the person parked the car on his private property and walked down to the beach on his property. The beachgoer has every right to walk the beach... (which he said he would).... So I apologize for making that issue a little more confusing. I AM well aware of the beach access controversy and honestly did not mean to stir the pot on that...
As far as mentioning the locations on the sight... you are correct that it is open to the public, but at this point I don't think the my blog has quite hit that status... I think the people coming here are mostly volunteers and professional people. BUT this is an excellent point and I may have to come back and delete...
I'll ask David and others what their thoughts are... and I certainly appreciate yours.
THANK YOU.
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