Police ID fisherman who drowned off Hamakua coast

HONOKAA, Hawaii – On Friday (September 13) at about 2:30 p.m., Hāmākua Police responded to the report of a fisherman who had been swept into the ocean in the area of Kawela’s Beach near Honokaa while he was picking opihi with two friends. The Hawai´i Fire Department recovered the body of 27-year-old James McGivern Jr. ,of Paauilo. He was pronounced dead on that date at 2:58 p.m. at the Hale Ho’ola Hāmākua Emergency Room. Autopsy findings indicate that the death was accidental, due to drowning.