I was walking to the cove when another one of our volunteers who was stationed there said that there was a man in the water who was feeding the fish. She said she warned him multiple times not to feed the fish, but it seemed like he wasn't listening.
After a little talking around, it seems like both parties were a bit at fault.
It seems like our volunteer was going about warning the man in a "obnoxious matter", says some of the visitors who were witnessing the ordeal.
They said our volunteer was yelling at the top of their lungs and shouting at the man that he could go to jail. (Which is true).
A few of the visitors said they were very upset and that she didn't have to keep pursuing the man like she did. They said they saw the man leave his bag of feed up on the shore and discontinued his fish feeding. But the volunteer still seemed to badger him a bit more before returning to her table.
Other witnesses said that they were a bit upset as well, but understood that the volunteer was just doing the best she could to reinforce the rules of the reserve. These visitors were also a bit skeptical to the fact whether or not the man really did stop feeding the fish.
After the man and his two friends got out of the water, I approached him and ask if he was feeding the fish. He said yes he was but he stopped when our volunteer came over and starter telling him to stop. I then asked that he give me the bag of feed that he had and he obliged.
He and his two friends started walking back to their truck when my supervisor stopped them and started talking to them.
That's when I started talking to the visitors who were closest to the ordeal, then went to the other visitors who were on the farther side of the cove.
After things had settled down a bit I approached the man and his two friends and asked if they were okay. I was a bit sad to hear that the man who was feeding the fish was apart of the marine corps and also apart of Project AWARE.
(www.projectaware.org)
He said that he wanted to feed the fish so that not only could he show his friends but it was his way of giving back to the ocean. He also told me that he was an ulua fisherman and that he believes in karma, so he was doing what he thought was okay.
I didn't want to push the issue further so I told him thank you for cooperating in giving me the bag of feed and told his friends (who were also in the Marine Corps) sorry if the incident ruined their day since they didn't know about the fish feeding rule.
But to the readers of this blog and to the readers who understand what the man was saying about karma and giving back to the ocean.
Although it may seem like you're doing your part in helping out the animals in feeding them, you are actually doing more harm than good.
Fish don't eat oats, peas or corn. They eat algae and coral. Even if its their own food source like limu, don't feed them. If you feed the fish, they might start to associated food with people, so whenever they see people, the fish might start to go to them for food and they won't eat what they are supposed to eat naturally.
So try to keep that in mind. If you ever see someone feeding fish, just let them know that they shouldn't do that, no matter how noble their reasoning might be.
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