Three whale-vessel strikes reported in 24-hour period here
A brush with a humpback whale off Keauhou left a paddler with minor scratches and a smashed canoe.
2013 January 30 CTY - Whale Paddler - Chuck Okazaki, general manager of the Outrigger Kanaloa at Kona resort condominium, points out where the 60-year-old paddler, whose canoe was struck by a humpback whale Tuesday, was stranded in Keauhou Bay. HSA photo by Leila Fujimori.
Federal conservation officials are looking into reports of three whale-vessel collisions in less than a 24-hour period off Hawaii island and Maui.
A National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration official said that in addition to a whale flipping a one-man outrigger canoe off West Hawaii Tuesday afternoon, two whale-vessel collisions are being investigated on Maui.
One of the collisions involved a whale calf about a half-mile off Lahaina Harbor at 4:40 p.m. Tuesday, and blood was seen in the water after the collision, NOAA official David Schofield said today.
Schofield, speaking at a news media conference this afternoon, said the other collision involved a whale about a mile out of Maalaea Harbor at about 6:30 a.m. today.
Officials said after the collision in Maalaea, people saw a whale with three slash-like wounds swimming in the vicinity with injuries that were not life-threatening.
Schofield said he did not have details at this time about the speed of the vessels involved in the accidents on Maui, or if the vessels were at fault.
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The whale-canoe strike about a quarter-mile off Keauhou was reported at about 2:16 p.m. Tuesday.
The canoe paddler, a 60-year-old resident, swam toward shore and was picked up by a tour boat. He suffered cuts on his arms from jagged ends of his broken canoe, but was not seriously hurt.
