Vol. 13, #4, July 2004

 

The City Administration's Bill 19, which would transferred the Concession fees from the H.B. Fund, was shelved on June 30! FOHB President John Norris, former President Dick Baker, other Board Members, Friends and Volunteers had testified to defeat this measure. The Bill as drafted would have transferred $1.1M from the H. B. Fund to the General Fund of the City. Importantly, the Budget Committee Chair, Ann Kobayashi, realized it would be "stealing" money from the H.B. Fund, thus she "protected" the H.B. Fund from being pilfered.

In the June 23 meeting of the Budget Committee, John Norris spoke and other Board Members submitted testimony asking that a Financial Plan be prepared and a separate accounting of the dedicated Bay Funds be established. Budget Committee Chair Ann Kobayashi stated that she wants to give the Bay more control over its finances. She ordered Budget and Fiscal Services Director Ivan Lui-Kwan to provide the Friends with a report of Fund 2003 expenses and stated that this will be also addressed on July 28.

This information should allow the Board to understand why, when there have been millions of revenue generated, there has been difficulty in hiring Bay Staff, purchasing equipment and meeting other safety and security needs.

This issue has generated a number of newspaper articles, including supporting editorials. Just click on "News" on the FOHB Website, at

www.friendsofhanaumabay.org

Along with the above, the Board has had discussions of the Bay's future and how the FOHB can assist or be involved. This is why the Board has arranged the "Evenings With the Mayoral Candidates" described in the next column. This will allow the administration and the FOHB to work together to address the needs of the Bay when the new Mayor takes office.

The FOHB Board is pleased to announce that the two major mayoral candidates, Duke Bainum and Mufi Hannemann have agreed to speak on their plans on protecting Hanauma Bay to the FOHB Members and friends. Duke Bainum is scheduled on Wednesday, August 4 and Mufi Hannemann on Thursday, August 5. Each session will be from 5:30-6:30 pm and will be in the Educational Alcove in the Marine Education Center at the Bay. We hope that you too will attend to show your support for the Board's efforts.

The Bay and Kalani Hwy quarterly cleanup did occur on Sunday, July 11, 2004. The Coordinators were pleased that of the 68 volunteers, six were FOHB Members. We know that a large number of our members are Seniors, who cannot help. Thus the Board's goal to recruit younger members.

Fish, more often than not, end up with monikers (err, names) that tend to describe a physical characteristic, color, pattern, shape, or some other obvious trait. Surgeonfish are known as Surgeon-fish because they have a 'scalpel' at the base of their tailfin. Often, and the Surgeonfish is a prime example, if a fish is 'packing,' they will clearly identify the weapon to potential adversaries by highlighting it with bright or contrasting colors. The Surgeonfish 'cousin,' the Bluespine Unicornfish, has been named for both physical and coloration characteristics. 'Unicorn' for the protuberance on his head and 'bluespine' for the coloration of the highlighting surrounding his double scalpel. Fish with a saddle pattern on their bods have it emphasized in their name. Ergo the Saddle Wrasse and Saddleback Butterflyfish. If a fish has ornate coloration it too forms part of the name. Examples include the Ornate Wrasse and Ornate Butterflyfish.

Soo, where am I going with all this? Well, last week at the Education Kiosk I was viewing the assembled masses (it's Summer Vacation) and wondered what some of them would be called based on fish naming standards. Because of the extreme variation in visitors I had lots of characteristics to employ in my new 'naming scheme.' I saw several 'fleshy,' shouldn't be in a two-piece suit, examples in a variety of eye catching patterns that I'll call "Ornate and Overweight." Another, thin and balding, with a Speedo about to fall off could be called "No meat, no pate, please no escape." Those using cellphones and talking loud to the extreme discomfort of all around could be named "Ma Bell I'm in Hell." The overweight party of four eating processed chow outta foil bags was named "Snack Food Are Us." Then there was the guy with the tattoos all over his body, complete with earlobes filled with chain links. He was called "Ink, Link, and the Kitchen Sink." Next time you venture forth to the Bay, see what kind of interesting names you can conjure up using the many 'characteristics' at hand for fodder. It may not beat crosswords, but all you need to take with you is your imagination. Aloha, as always, Bearded, Bald and not too Proud (Larry Winnik)

We've added a new section to the Website called "News." Hanauma Bay has been in the news a lot lately during the City & County Budget planning efforts, thus you can currently read 15 articles. This section will be updated each time a new article is published on the Bay.

We also have our new FOHB Store to help raise money for the FOHB. You can purchase various products with high-quality photos of the Bay printed on them. There is a large selection of photos and products to choose from, so do "drop in" our store when you have a chance. Again, a portion of each purchase goes to support the FOHB.

Another addition to the Website is the Amazon.com Banner at the bottom of each page. Please remember to click on this Banner if you are making any purchases from Amazon.com, which now seems to carry just about everything imaginable these days. Your price will be the same, but a portion of your purchase will be donated to the FOHB.

One of the highlights of our Website continues to be the Full Screen Underwater Photos. If you have not viewed them yet you are really missing some of Dave Schrichte best photos taken in the Bay. A high speed connection is recommended for this feature as the photos are very large and clean, thus they will take a lot of time to download on a modem. The photos can be viewed from the links at the bottom of our Homepage.

If you have any suggestions for the Website please let me know via e-mail.

Bryn Kaufman, FOHB Webmaster

HBEP Outreach Coordinator Dr. Valerie Franck has announced that she will be leaving the program to accept a faculty position at HPU. Valerie will be leaving on August 31 after working here for 13 months. She is responsible for running the highly successful "Thursday Evening at the Bay" Lecture and Film series and for our interaction with the Hawaii Reef Check Program. Valerie was also instrumental in planning our highly successful Marine Conservation Night in March and the just past Reef Conservation Night at the Bay.
We will all miss the energy and passion she brought to the job. I trust that all the Friends will join me in bidding her a fond Aloha.
Peter Rappa, Program Director

7/22/04 "Kawai Nui Marsh Project" Dr. Chuck Burrows, Kawai Nui Heritage Foundation.
7/29/04 "Secrets of the Ocean Realm: Mountain in the Sea" PBs Documentary.
8/5/04 "Great White Shark Encounters" National Geographic/BBC Documentary.
8/12/04 "Water Quality Issues in Hawaii: From the Ala Wai to Kaneohe Bay" Eric DeCarlo, U.H. Oceanography Dept.
8/19/04 "Blue Planet Seas of Life: Coasts" BBC Documentary.
8/26/04 "Hurricanes in Hawaii" Tom Schroeder, U.H. Joint Institute of Marine and Atmospheric Research.
9/2/04 "Planning and Monitoring an Australian Marine Park" Tim Lynch, National Parks and Wildlife Service, New South Wales, Australia.
9/9/04 "El Nino, the Pulse of the Pacific" Roger Lukas, U.H. Oceanographic Dept.
9/16/04 "Blue Planet Seas of Life: Seasonal Seas" BBC Documentary.

Remember ALL talks/FILMS are in the Bay Education Center THEATER on Thursdays at 6:30 pm.

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NANAMOANA is published bimonthly by the Friends of Hanauma Bay,
100 Hanauma Bay Road, Honolulu, HI 96825
Roy Gritter, Editor.