Island Breath: Superferry News of the Day 9/25-26

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY STORY SEPTEMBER 26TH

SOURCE: DICK MAYER dickmayer@earthlink.net

POSTED: 26 SEPTEMBER 2007 - 9:15pm HST

We are at the heart of the Maui case

image above:painting of Humpback Whales by Andew Patsalou.

by Greg Kaufman on 26 September 2007

Thursday will be the sixth day I will have sat in the witness stand. The importance of my tenure can not be underscored enough and is not missed by HSF and HDOT.

This is THE case. Both sides realize it.
For HSF and HDOT they will spend the next two days trying to discredit any and everything Pacific Whale Foundation or I have ever done or accomplished.

This is the voice of 200 million dollars.
It is not the voice of reason.
It is a desperate and pathetic cry for self-survival.

Over the next 48 hours my voice will ring for every child that we have educated.
Every person who has seen a whale for the first time.
For the freedom and magic of wild dolphins.

For curious turtles and shy fishes.
For waves.
For wind.
For the ocean.
For the right of self expression.

This is the voice of Hawaii.
The voice of its people, its' heritage and its' culture.
The ocean and its creatures are sacred and must be protected.
While Pacific Whale Foundation may be but a thread in this intricate web, without our 'thread' -- our voice -- it all fails.

In the next 48 hours focus not on the disparaging remarks or idle threats, but what is pono -- what is good and right.

Now is when we stand up, collectively, for the rights of whales, dolphins, marine life and their ocean home.

This is the last stand -- the first stand -- the start of the new beginning where the public's voice, the whale's songs and the dolphin cries are heard anew.

SUBJECT: SUPERFERRY STORY SEPTEMBER 26TH

SOURCE: SURFRIDER FOUNDATION surfriderkauai@gmail.com

POSTED: 27 SEPTEMBER 2007 - 7:15am HST

Ferry too close, fast for comfort – whale expert

by Claudine San Nicolas on 26 September 2007 in The Maui News

A whale expert and opponent of the Hawaii Superferry continued another full day of testimony Tuesday, in Maui Circuit Court, outlining the potential danger the company's 350-foot double-hulled catamaran poses to endangered humpback whales and other sea creatures.

Greg Kaufman, the president and co-founder of the Pacific Whale Foundation, also criticized the Superferry's whale avoidance policy and its own captain's testimony about his ability to prevent a whale strike.

Kaufman was called to the witness stand as an expert witness for three environmental groups – Maui Tomorrow, the Sierra Club and the Kahului Harbor Coalition – challenging the Superferry's ability to operate without an environmental assessment on ferry operations.

The Hawaii Supreme Court ruled on Aug. 23 that the state Department of Transportation was wrong to bypass an environmental review of $40 million in ferry-related improvements, including work done at Kahului Harbor.

The Hawaii Supreme Court sent the case back to 2nd Circuit Judge Joseph Cardoza, who is presiding over an evidentiary hearing on whether the ferry, which operated on Aug. 26 and Aug. 27, should halt service until the court-ordered environmental reviews are completed. For now, Cardoza has placed an injunction prohibiting the ferry from operating in Kahului Harbor.

Meanwhile, Superferry officials, on their own, have stopped service to Kauai, because of concerns surrounding passenger safety arising from vehement public protests against the ferry on the Garden Isle.

On Monday, Kaufman testified that he believes the ferry poses a substantial threat to humpback whales and other marine mammals swimming in the islands' waters. They would be particularly vulnerable from mid-October through early July when their highest concentrations are just north of Molokai and in other parts of Maui County waters. Hawaii provides calving grounds for the endangered whales.

Kaufman said he believes it would take at least 15 seconds, and not three as has been previously testified, for a whale spotter on the Superferry to see a whale, identify its location and relay the information to the ship captain.

"It's easily 15 seconds . . . it takes at least that much time," Kaufman said in response to questions from plaintiff attorney Isaac Hall. The captain would need another 15 seconds to determine his course of action, which Kaufman said would be too late to avoid a strike that would most likely result in a whale fatality.
Based on scientific data and other reports and literature on humpbacks, Kaufman said, he'd recommend the Superferry's vessel operate at 13 knots, or approximately 15 mph, instead of 37 knots, or 42.5 mph, to avoid harm to the mammals during whale season.

With the expected ferry's travel speed of 37 knots, it would not be able to avoid striking a whale at 100 meters away, and even at 500 meters away, he said.
The whale expert has yet to be cross-examined by Superferry attorney Bruce Lamon, and Deputy Attorney General Bill Wynhoff, who is representing the state Department of Transportation. The lawyers continued to lodge objections against Hall's questioning of Kaufman, saying the expert either did not have the expertise to speak or direct knowledge of the issues at hand.

Cardoza said he would allow Kaufman to speak of his experiences, given the thousands of hours he's spent in Hawaiian waters and his studies of humpback whales and dolphins.

Kaufman has been qualified to testify as an expert in whale and dolphin distribution and reproduction, marine mammal regulations and their relationship to the scientific community, and vessel-whale interactions and impacts.

Kaufman also testified about a whale distribution study he conducted in February and March of whale activity near Maalaea Harbor. The study has not yet been published, but Kaufman said it showed one "surprise encounter" with a whale at 300 meters or less for every nine miles. He said the vessel he traveled in was going only 5 knots. A surprise encounter involved a whale popping up or surfacing unannounced in the path of a moving vessel.

Kaufman is expected to take a break from the witness stand this morning. Transportation Director Barry Fukunaga is scheduled step in as a witness for the state beginning at 9:15 a.m. Kaufman was tentatively scheduled to return to testify this afternoon.

ee also:
Island Breath: News of September 25-26 9/25/07
Island Breath: News of September 23-24 9/24/07
Island Breath: News of September 21 & 22 9/22/07
Island Breath: News of September 20th 9/20/07
Island Breath: News of September 19th 9/19/07
Island Breath: News of September 18th 9/18/07
Island Breath: News of September 16th & 17th 9/17/07
Island Breath: News of September 14th & 15th 9/15/07
Island Breath: News of September 13th 9/13/07
Island Breath: News of September 12th 9/12/07
Island Breath: News of September 11th 9/11/07
Island Breath: News of September 10th 9/10/07
Island Breath: Superferry Concerns 9/10/07
Island Breath: KOH Petition to USCG 9/5/07
Island Breath: HSF Slice & Swath Technology 9/5/07
Island Breath: News of Oahu animosity 9/5/07
Island Breath: Maritime Administration & EIS 9/3/07
Island Breath: Support from Oahu's DMZ 8/30/2007
Island Breath: DMZ - Stop the Strykers 7/2/07
Island Breath: Maui Case & Timeline 8/29/07
Island Breath: A Hawaiian's View 8/29/07
Island Breath: We Win Round Three 8/28/07
Island Breath: Plea to Reps and TRO 8/27/07
Island Breath: Rounds One & Two 8/23/07
Island Breath: Boycott the Superferry 8/17/07
Island Breath: Superferry Preparations 8/10/07
Island Breath: Hui-R Superferry Meeting 7/26/2007
Island Breath: Not So Super Ferry 7/24/07
Island Breath: Superferry Invasion 7/22/07
Island Breath: Superferry Noise 7/18/07
Island Breath: Superferry Delayed 5/25/07Z
Island Breath: Still No Superferry EIS 3/31/07
Island Breath: Superferry EIS Effort 3/25/2007
Island Breath: Superferry EIS Bill hearings 2/26/07
Island Breath: Superferry Promotion 2/24/07
Island Breath: Superferry Launched 1/28/07
Island Breath: Superferry in Trouble 12/12/006
Island Breath: Superferry Reference 11/6/06
Island Breath: Superferry Resistance 11/1/06
Island Breath: Superferry & Military 10/13/06
Island Breath: Superferry History 10/3/06
Island Breath: Stop the Superferry 8/29/06
Island Breath: Superferry Meetings 8/13/06
Island Breath: Superferry Redux 6/23/06
Island Breath: Superferry Problems 11/14/04