The Boating and Ocean Recreation Division of the Department of Land and Natural Resources will host a public information meeting Saturday to discuss newly proposed rules for manta ray viewing sites at Makako Bay and Keauhou.
The meeting will be held from 10:30 a.m. to 2 p.m. in Kailua-Kona at the Palamanui Campus of Windward Community College, 73-4255 Ane Keohokalole Highway, Room B-126.
According to a departmental press release, manta ray tours have become so popular in Kona that they are now considered “unsustainable and unsafe.” To that end, regulation measures have been proposed to mitigate the environmental and safety dangers of overcrowding by boats as well as swimmers and divers.
The first portion of the meeting is designated for discussion on Kona’s history of manta ray viewing. DOBOR will present its management plan and then open the floor up for comment from attendees in the meeting’s latter portion.
In the interest of stakeholder preparation, DOBOR released its management plan on its website on Sept. 10. It can be viewed online at http://dlnr.hawaii.gov/dobor/ where meeting updates will also be available.