Shark warning signs removed from Kewalo Basin

Honolulu Ocean Safety removed shark warning signs at Kewalo Basin Park this afternoon after giving the all clear.

The removal of the signs comes after an 8-foot tiger shark reportedly bit a 58-year-old surfer in the right leg in waters off Kewalo Basin Sunday.

Ocean Safety personnel on jet skis will continue to warn surfers of the situation for the rest of the day, said spokeswoman Shayne Enright of the Honolulu Emergency Medical Services.

According to the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, a tiger shark bit a surfer’s right leg shortly before 7 a.m. Sunday. When bystanders came to the man’s aid, they reported a shark returned and was “acting aggressively.”

Honolulu Emergency Medical Services treated the surfer and took him in serious condition to a hospital.

Soon after, shark warning signs were posted, cautioning the public to stay out of the water in the area until noon today. Ocean Safety and officers of DLNR’s Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement were seen on personal watercraft patrolling the water this morning.

Eric Kagawa, 45, of Hawaii Kai who regularly surfs at Marineland, a surf spot off Kewalo Basin, said, “I hope the guy is OK.”

“I never saw a shark in the water in all the years I’ve been surfing,” said Kagawa whose been surfing in waters off Kewalo Basin since he was a child.

Shark researcher Carl Meyer of the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology of the University of Hawaii at Manoa said the risk of getting bitten by a shark in the water in the main Hawaiian islands is very low.