HAWAI'I KAI — A plan to start a "swim with the sharks" tour business in waters off Maunalua Bay has been dropped, but the operator of the business venture says he hasn't ruled out the possibility of other tours in the future.

"As of now, it's not happening, guys," Iolani Lewis told more than 250 residents crowded into the Kamiloiki Elementary School cafeteria tonight for a meeting to hear details on the controversial plan. "That doesn't mean there's not the possibility out there for some sort of pelagic tour. Sharks do not have to be the main attraction."

Lewis, who kept the venture's boat at Koko Marina Center, said he dropped the proposal in response to public safety concerns. "I'm not a bad guy. I'm just a regular guy," said Lewis, owner of Shark Discovery Hawaii.

The meeting at times got raucous and heated. At one point, a woman yelled, "Tell the truth!" A man yelled, "Where are you from?"

But another attendee defended the proposal, saying that every time someone spearfishes they attract sharks. "If he wants to run his business, he has a right," that man said.

Lewis wanted to conduct the operation, based at Koko Marina Center, in which tours would chum for sharks, then clients would be put in shark-resistant cages to see the sharks feed.

Residents were particularly concerned about plans to chum for sharks, saying the animals would start associating people with food. They also pointed out that unlike an unrelated shark-feeding operation out of Hale'iwa, Maunalua Bay is popular year-round for paddlers, parasailers, paddlers, boaters, scuba divers and other oceangoers.