The purpose of most of the pages on this website was to present scientifically accurate data showing why the Hawaii Superferry was a serious threat to Humpback whales in Hawaiian waters. The Superferry should have been required to do an environmental impact statement before being permitted to operate - but because of political corruption in the executive, legislative and possibly the judicial system, the Superferry was made exempt from all environmental laws. In fact, a new and unconstitutional law was passed for the sole purpose of helping the Superferry. However, this governmental insanity was reversed in 2010 by the Hawaii Supreme court - so sanity did prevail - at least temporarily. Now onto some data on why the Hawaii Superferry was a threat to Humpback Whales The Hawaii Superferry company (HSF) promised to try to avoid hitting whales. This satisfied the local corrupt politicians - but HSF had no way of keeping it’s promise. In reality, the Superferry was pretty much “flying blind”. Whales and other marine mammals had little chance of getting out of the way because the Superferry charged through the water at very high speeds. Observers with binoculars might have been able to spot whales on the surface far in front of the fast moving Superferry. The Superferry may, in fact, have had time to slow down or turn. But observers would not have seen whales directly under the surface (the pontoons extended down 12 ft.) and the Superferry would not have seen - or have been able to avoid - whales that surfaced in front of the Superferry. Originally HSF had planned to use sonar to help the Superferry detect whales beneath the surface. But some time ago the company announced that it would not use sonar after it learned that sonar could injure the same whales that the Superferry would like to avoid hitting. Hence HSF should have been in real trouble because - despite it’s promises - the Superferry would have essentially been “flying blind”. But, in fact, the company was not in trouble at all because the politicians and policy makers had ignored the fact that - without Sonar - the Hawaii Superferry would have no effective way to avoid hitting whales. In Addition, the Superferry would have often traveled at night which would have made it almost impossible for it to detect whales - despite HSF’s claims for the effectiveness of radar and night vision binoculars. The links at the top of this page will take you to other pages giving a lot more information on why the Superferry would have been a threat to Humpback Whales. Two of these pages include videos. Other pages include short scientific papers and references to longer scientific papers. There were other web sites that provided additional information about many other problems associated with the Superferry - such as transfer of invasive species between the Hawaiian Islands, traffic jams from vehicles entering and exiting the Superferry , etc. Other Websites which may still be active The Superferry Impact Website provides excellent and comprehensive information over a wide range of problems which will be caused by the Superferry. Go to http://www.superferryimpact.com Karen Chun has an excellent website which concentrates on the many problems the Superferry will bring to Kahalui harbor on Maui. It also covers many other superferry problems. Go to http://www.SaveKahuluiHarbor.com/ferry.php The two Superferry videos on other pages of this web site contain film and video footage shot by Lee Tepley. For information on this and similar footage go to http://home.earthlink.net/~leetepley/ The picture below shows a baby Humpback whale swimming above it’s mother and just below the surface. This is very common and makes the baby Humpback whales especially vulnerable to being struck by one of the pontoons of the Superferry which reach down 12 feet below the surface of the water.

The picture below shows a fast ferry similar to the Hawaii Superferry. This ferry - and two similar ferries - are thought to be responsible for the deaths of many Sperm whales in the waters of the Canary Islands

Please click here to go to Moonlight Productions’s stock footage web site. Then scroll to top of first page

Introduction to archival Superferry Website
by leetepley@earthlink.net

All items at the top of this page are links to other pages on this website. Most pages refer to the “Hawaii Superferry” which operated in Hawaiian waters for several years after which time it was shut down down by a decision of the Hawaii Supreme Court. The decision resulted from legal action by 3 environmental groups.

Since the Superferry has now been shut down, the information on this web site is mainly of “historical or archival” interest. This includes the last page called “The SeaFlight fiasco & the superferry Scam”. This page was added in Jan. 2011 and includes information that has never before been published. It should be of value when the “Son of Superferry” is proposed. This could easily happen very soon.

Links to all pages are given at the top of each page