Shark Killing To Begin in Northwest Hawaiian Islands

[Caribbean Jake]

http://www.khnl.com/Global/story.asp?S=6572424

 

By Diane Ako

 

HONOLULU (KHNL) - At a lengthy meeting Friday, with many impassioned testifiers both for and against the issue, the state Board of Land and Natural Resources gave federal scientists permission to kill Galapagos sharks that have been attacking and killing young seals in the Northwestern Hawaiian Islands.

 

Federal scientists say killing the sharks will save the endangered Hawaiian monk seal from extinction. There are only 1,200 seals left in the world. The board will allow the killing of The 5 sharks this summer inside the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument.

 

George "Bud" Antonelis, protected-species division chief for the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Pacific Islands Region, heads the shark culling effort. His

 

request was approved by all three co-managers of the Papahanaumokuakea Marine National Monument: NOAA, the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.