WANNA FEED FISH?
Author: blogger
It’s hard to think wild fish can be partly domesticated, but that is exactly what is happening in the waters off Maui and around Hawaii. Various kinds of fish are becoming habituated to being hand-fed.
The habituated fishes swarm snorkelers and divers and can get aggressive enough to actually bite the hands that don’t feed. Mostly the fishes are being fed junk food – frozen peas, corn, pizza crusts and cheese spread – although there are shops that sell special fish food pellets that contain proper piscine nutrition.
The reason behind the fish-feeding is customer satisfaction, even at the expense of the wildlife and the reefs. Less-than-responsible guides on snorkel and dive tours feed the fishes to keep the customers satisfied.
With unreasonable expectations born of watching television programs showing swarms of fish, the customers want a bigger-than-life journey into the sea. What the viewers of those programs don’t realize is that the photographers often spend days, weeks and even years to get those spectacular shots. A National Geographic team had to return to Midway several years in a row to get one shot that would take a couple of minutes to show.
