UPDATE: Shark Warning Lifted for North Shore

Background file image credit Robert Raimo. Overlay images: Wendy Osher. Maui Now graphic.

UPDATE: Oct. 22, 12:50 p.m.

Today, conservation officers with the state Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement, and lifeguards from the county’s, Ocean Safety division patrolled the waters in the affected warning zone and did not observe any associated shark activity.

The shark warning advisory for Maui’s North Shore is lifted.

Ho‘okipa Beach Park was reopened at noon.

UPDATE: Oct. 22, 8:41 a.m.

The shark warning area for Maui’s North Shore has been revised.

The west boundary at Tavares Bay has been moved approximately a quarter mile eastward to Kūʻau Point.

The east boundary remains the same at Maliko Bay.

The gates at the entrance to Ho‘okipa Beach Park will remain closed until
the shark warning advisory is lifted.

If no shark activity is observed this morning, the shark warning
signs will be taken down and the shark advisory will be lifted at noon, subsequent to the state’s shark response protocol.

UPDATE: Oct. 21, 8:08 p.m.

At 5:01 p.m. Friday, Oct. 21, 2016, Pā‘ia firefighters responded to Ho‘okipa Beach Park for a person with a possible shark bite.

When firefighters arrived at 5:09 p.m., paramedics already had the male shark bite victim loaded in the ambulance and transported him shortly after to Maui Memorial Medical Center in serious condition.

The victim is a 36-year-old male from Pā‘ia . The man was surfing about 50 yards from shore off the west point of Ho‘okipa Beach Park at the surf spot known by some as “H-Poko.”

A surfer near the victim looked over after hearing the man scream, and saw a five-foot reef shark biting the surfer’s left arm.

The shark let go and then bit the man again in the left leg.

Other surfers came to the victim’s aid and helped to paddle the man back to shore.

Firefighters and state conservation officers from the Department of Land and Natural Resources, Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement cleared the ocean of surfers at the beach park and will warn people against entering the water until an assessment is made at noon tomorrow.

Shark warning signs have been posted along the shoreline to warn ocean users of the shark sighting.

Tomorrow morning, state DOCARE officers and Maui County Ocean Safety personnel will be warning people to stay out of the ocean along a two-mile stretch from Maliko Bay, one mile to the east of Ho‘okipa Beach Park, to Tavares Bay, one mile west of the beach park.

If no shark activity is observed tomorrow morning, the shark warning signs will be taken down at noon Saturday, subsequent to the state’s shark response protocol.

ORIGINAL POST: Oct. 21, 6:59 p.m.

Shortly after 5 p.m. today, Maui Police Department notified DLNR Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement of a shark bite at Ho‘okipa Beach Park.

The male victim was surfing at a point at Ho‘okipa.

The Maui resident was transported by emergency personnel to the hospital with injuries to his left arm and left leg.

Witnesses reported seeing a five-foot shark, which appeared to be a reef shark.

DLNR officers are responding to the scene to notify ocean users from Mama’s Fish House to Maliko Bay to clear the water.

Shark warning signs are being posted along a two-mile stretch in that area.

Tomorrow morning officers will return to the beach areas and keep them closed until noon, pending assessment of nearshore waters with Maui County lifeguards.

Ocean conditions were windy, choppy and murky this afternoon.

No further details were available.