HONOLULU
--
North shore residents, community and business leaders, police and fire fighters gathered at Haleiwa Harbor Sunday to call boat burning an act of lawless vigilantes.
Three boats owned by North Shore Shark Adventures have been set ablaze and totally destroyed in recent months. Two other boats were damaged by the fires, which investigators say were deliberately set.
It appears that somebody is taking the law into their own hands. They have a beef with a certain business and they're burning boats down and sincerely crossing the line of civil society, North Shore representative Gil Riviere.
The owner of North Shore Shark Adventures, who has lost three boats, spoke with emotion.
If I thought we were doing anything wrong I would deserve something like this. I don't deserve this. My family doesn't deserve this, my coworkers. It's ridiculous. The community doesn't deserve this, said Joe Pavsek.
Opponents say the shark tours break the law by feeding sharks too close to shore, attracting sharks which can attack surfers and swimmers. And they say it's disrespectful to native Hawaiian culture which holds sharks as ancestral gods.
Even some opponents came to speak out against burning boats.
I characterize this as being lawlessness against any company whether you agree with what they are doing or not. It's no the way to handle things in our country, said Susan Matsushima, chair of the North Shore Chamber of Commerce.
Authorities are seeking information about the arson cases.
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