USA Today reports that hundreds of protesters on surfboards, swimming in the harbor and lining the docks held the Hawaii Superferry at bay for nearly two hours yesterday at Nawiliwili Harbor on Kaua’i. The article covers the protest’s drama, but never really the heart of the matter which has lead to a boycott of the Hawaii Superferry from concerns about its impact on wildlife such as endangered humpback whales and ecosystems.

Hawaii Superferry Drama

The U.S. Coast Guard used force to secure waters around the harbor where swimmers and surfers created a human blockade that had prevented the Superferry’s 350-foot-long vessel, the Alakai, from entering the harbor….Earlier, the ferry backed out of the harbor about 6 p.m. after a half-hour standoff with 16 swimmers and surfers during which only a single Coast Guard vessel was present. As people on shore cheered and chanted slogans, the ferry remained on station a half-mile outside the harbor.

Hawaii Wildlife and Ecosystem Issues

During Winter whale migration season, in day and night ferry operations, with no use of radar, traveling at high speed (37 knots—about 43 mph) in open Hawai’i ocean, it’s not a matter of if the Superferry will hit whales and their calves and leave them broken to die, but when and how often. Further, it is reported in other areas of the world where similar fast ferries operate, whales have gone deaf from the voracious water jet noise generated from the ferry engines.

Hulls 14 feet deep into the water, like 2 sharp ice skate blades, endangerd marine life has no chance.

A Sperm Whale near the Canary Islands, killed by a high-speed superferry. This is the same type of vessel as the proposed Hawai’i superferry. Sperm whale deaths in the region went from 1 every 2 years before high-speed ferries, to approximately 7 per year after.