1st Annual Hawaii Ocean Expo

Here in Hawaii, we are surrounded by the most beautiful natural resource, the ocean. We are blessed to be able to live in Hawaii and we often forget how lucky we are. The Hawaii Ocean Expo and the GT Masters Cup was created to remind us how vital the ocean is to the people of Hawaii. The idea for the expo and tournament came to me one night when I started to think about how little I know about the ocean that I use regularly. The wheels went into motion when I was watching a television show in which a family went on a weekend fishing trip together to a man made reservoir to catch farm-raised fish. The family was happy but oblivious to what they were doing. They were trained to think that that was the way people fished on the weekend. I thought to myself how sad that would be if I had to do that with my kids. That night I had an extreme dream of taking my son to Wal-Mart to buy a pole and walking across their giant parking lot to another building which was a catch and release fishing establishment. We paid our admission, bought the bait and a hot dog and soda from the concession. I think I woke up in a cold sweat! It was the worst dream I ever had. Yes it is extreme but not unrealistic if we don’t pay attention to our ocean. The reason I know this is that it is happening on the mainland as we speak!

So at 11pm the next night I was on the phone with my partners, probably still frantic from my bad dream, initializing the first annual ocean expo. From that point on it was all about making the Hawaii Ocean Expo and the GT Masters Tournament a reality. It was a grueling 6 months of organizing and creating the events for the expo. The VJ Entertainment crew and Eastside Outkastaz did an awesome job putting everything together.

The goal on both events was to educate the people of Hawaii to be more ocean minded and aware. We didn’t want to limit it to just fishermen, divers or surfers, but open the doors to all people that use the ocean. I myself, surf, fish, dive, and boat and I knew that I wasn’t the only one who did multiple activities related to the ocean.

For the expo we set up an area called the “Ocean University” which was up front and center to give non-profit organizations a platform to reach out and educate the public on all the good things they are doing for our waters. The plan was to get ocean minded people to the expo and maybe their curiosity would encourage them to ask questions or volunteer with some of these organizations. The ocean university was a huge success! The agencies were all able to spread their message of ocean awareness to everyone who attended the expo. 12,000 patrons attended and I’m sure more than a few left the 1st annual Hawaii Ocean Expo more aware and educated about issues that concern our oceans.