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 last night 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.

"The idea that someone is going to do chumming in the water is really distressing," said Marian Grey, a member of the Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board, before last night's meeting. Caroline Blakeley, a longtime resident of Hawai'i Kai, added the plan could endanger public safety. "I feel this gentleman is just after money," Blakeley said.

Andy Stenger, 42, a member of the Hawai'i State Bodyboarders Association and a longtime resident of Hawai'i Kai, said the plan is "not a good idea" and shouldn't even be under discussion. "It's going to present a danger to users of the bay," he said.

Randy Honebrink, director of state Aquatic Resources, said the state is opposed to shark feeding and has concerns about the proposal, both because of the potential public safety effects and because of the effects on the environment and how feeding could change the sharks' behavior. "We are opposed to it and that's all there is to it," he said.

The community started raising concerns about the proposed venture earlier this month, after residents spotted the Snoopy V — the boat Lewis leases — outfitted with a shark cage and docked at Koko Marina Center.

Krysti Peacock, account manager for Koko Marina Center, said in a statement that Lewis never informed the center of his proposal and "as soon as they found out, (the center) immediately contacted Lewis with notification that his dock slip lease had been terminated and he was to vacate the premises."

Peacock added, "KMC is the home to numerous water sport companies operating in Maunalua Bay, including the only operation allowed in the marina, and would not want to jeopardize the safety of our tenants or customers."

Lewis said at the meeting that he never meant to get the community in an uproar, and conceded that he should have started talking to residents earlier. "I may have gone about it, in your opinion, in the wrong way," he said.

He added that he wants to work with the community in the future on an educational tour. "There is a way we could probably work together to develop some sort of sustainable and community-accepted tour out there. There's a chance that we could actually work together."