Tourism affecting locals' way of life

[Miulang]

When does the need for the tourist dollar supercede the need for local people to be able to make a living to support their families?

This morning's Advertiser has a story about how the development and expansion of the Ko 'Olina resort and the redevelopment of the Waianae area is seriously impacting the livelihood of fishermen (http://the.honoluluadvertiser.com/article/2005/Feb/20/bz/bz04a.html) in the Waianae area.
The locals are complaining about all the tour boats chasing away the schools of fish they used to be able to catch right offshore.

The State of Hawai'i is going to have to decide who is more important: the local people who pay taxes and who are trying to earn a living v. the tourists who spend money over maybe 10 days but who leave their messes behind when their planes take off. :mad:

I just hope there aren't any confrontations between the fishermen and the tour boat operators, because then things could really turn ugly.

Miulang

[Konaguy]

"The State of Hawai'i is going to have to decide who is more important: the local people who pay taxes and who are trying to earn a living v. the tourists who spend money over maybe 10 days but who leave their messes behind when their planes take off."


Sad as it sounds, unless we diversify our economy away from tourism, military,
construction/real estate, we'll be at the whim of the world economy.As how
most people pay their taxes is directly/indirectly related to the above ecomonomic forces.

[Babooze]

It all depends on who brings in more money. I can see both sides of the issue, however we all know that money talks and yada,yada,yada. I was born and raised in Waianae and know the fishermen involved.The local small commercial fisherman has been taking it in the Muli forever. Why should the goverenment pay attention to a bunch of 3rd and 4th generation fisherman that struggle to scratch out a living, when they can tax the big tourist dollars.