Hawaiian Island Humpback Whale
National Marine Sanctuary
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Maui and Hawaiian Islands
Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary
No one knows exactly when humpback whales first began wintering in the warm, shallow waters around the Hawaiian Islands. Narrative reports from whalers document the appearance of these majestic giants in Hawaii in the 1840s, but little evidence substantiates an earlier presence. But arrive they did, and today the waters around the main Hawaiian Islands of Kauai, Oahu, Hawaii, Maui, Molokai, Lanai and Kaho'olawe constitute one of the world's most important North Pacific humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) habitats and the only place in the U.S. where humpbacks reproduce. Scientists estimate that two-thirds of the entire North Pacific humpback whale population (approximately 4000-5000 whales) migrate to Hawaiian waters to breed, calve and nurse their young.
In March 1982, NOAA declared the site an Active Candidate for sanctuary designation. Public workshops were held to allow scientists and the community to discuss the purpose of a marine sanctuary and evaluate issues related to management of a sanctuary. Soon after some members of the community voiced opposition to designation fearing that a marine sanctuary would bring additional restrictions on fishing and vessel traffic.
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In response to these concerns, Hawaii's then Governor Anyoshi suspended further consideration of the site in early 1984. Six years later, in October 1990, President Bush directed the Secretary of Defense to immediately discontinue the use of Kaho'olawe as a weapons range, and Congress once again directed NOAA to determine the feasibility of establishing a national marine sanctuary in the waters around the island and elsewhere in Hawaii.
Congress, in consultation with the State of Hawaii, designated the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary onNovember 4, 1992. The Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary Act identified the following purposes for the sanctuary: to protect humpback whales and their habitat within the sanctuary; to educate and interpret for the public the relationship of humpback whales and the Hawaiian Islands marine environment; to manage human uses of the sanctuary consistent with the Hawaiian Islands National Marine Sanctuary Act and the National Marine Sanctuary Act; and to provide for the identification of marine resources and ecosystems of national significance for possible inclusion in the sanctuary.
In response to public concern about what a sanctuary presence would mean to the people of Hawaii, the Act allowed the Secretary of Commerce, in consultation with the Governor of Hawaii, to make modifications to the boundaries of the sanctuary as necessary to fulfill the purposes of the Act. Numerous public information meetings and hearings were held on each of the main Hawaiian Islands. The National Marine Sanctuary Program also established a 25-member Sanctuary Advisory Council, made up of user groups and government agencies, to provide advice and recommendations on continued development and management of the site.
The public, though still divided in its support of the Hawaiian Sanctuary, was assured that the Sanctuary essentially would incorporate existing restrictions to enhance protection for the humpback whales and their habitat. Those restrictions primarily dealt with approaching and harassment of the whale population, discharge of wastes into the water, and alteration of the seabed.
Four and one-half years after the Hawaiian Islands Humpback Whale National Marine Sanctuary was designated the nation's eleventh marine sanctuary, Hawaii Governor Benjamin Cayetano, on June 5, 1997, formally approved the Sanctuary in state waters.
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