Narrative:

Air carrier X was conducting a visual approach to from the northwest; air carrier Y was straight in behind air carrier X . I noticed 1200 code 6 miles northwest of koa northwest bound indicating 4;500 feet. I issued traffic to air carrier X who was several thousand feet above 4;500 feet and about 12 miles opposite direction. Kona tower calls and says that I can switch communications on the air carrier X because they are turning the aircraft on the 1200 code to the east. The VFR target is observed turning eastbound. Moments later a VFR target was noticed northbound on the localizer opposite direction to the air carrier Y inbound descending thru 7;000 feet about 8 miles apart and about 15 miles north of kona airport. Aircraft Z then checked on my frequency requesting advisories to jhm. I told aircraft Z to turn immediately to a 260 degree heading and issue a traffic alert. I then issued a traffic alert to air carrier Y and descended them to 6;000 feet hoping to get some vertical separation as well as some lateral separation from aircraft Z . I issued a beacon code to aircraft Z and radar identified the aircraft. Separation was established and normal operations continued.I suspected kona tower was providing radar services to aircraft Z even though they are not qualified to do so nor was the aircraft within their airspace at the time. This was confirmed by my front line manager when he called kona tower. They were issuing radar vectors to aircraft Z to avoid air carrier X inbound. Although this vector did resolve the conflict with air carrier X it created a new conflict with air carrier Y . This is why I should have been the one providing any if necessary vectors as I am the one providing approach services and not kona tower. Aircraft Z should have been told to contact hcf for advisories soon after they departed koa rather than vectored 15 miles north of koa and then contacting me in a bad situation with very little time to react.recommend training for kona tower controllers to review their responsibilities and understand their role is not to act as radar controllers. Also; I believe kona tower controllers have developed this bad habit out of necessity. The aircraft Z glide restriction which causes them to immediately turn northbound into arrivals has led kona tower controllers to start issuing vectors to these aircraft outside of their airspace because they are often already talking to the inbound arrival who is in conflict with the aircraft Z . I recommend approach control services for koa to eliminate this problem. Right now; we really are gambling with this situation between VFR and IFR aircraft at koa. Even when not being vectored by kona tower VFR aircraft often call us for advisories when they are already in a traffic alert situation. I wish we had something similar to what we have in class C services at ogg where this conflict is more manageable. Recommend airspace change.

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Original NASA ASRS Text

Title: A TRACON Controller reported of a VFR target in conflict with two IFR arrivals. The Tower separated the VFR traffic from the first arrival; then shipped the VFR traffic to the TRACON Controller. This action resulted in a converging heading with the second arrival.

Narrative: Air Carrier X was conducting a Visual Approach to from the northwest; Air Carrier Y was straight in behind Air Carrier X . I noticed 1200 code 6 miles Northwest of KOA Northwest Bound indicating 4;500 feet. I issued traffic to Air Carrier X who was several thousand feet above 4;500 feet and about 12 miles opposite direction. Kona tower calls and says that I can switch communications on the Air Carrier X because they are turning the aircraft on the 1200 code to the east. The VFR target is observed turning eastbound. Moments later a VFR target was noticed northbound on the localizer opposite direction to the Air Carrier Y inbound descending thru 7;000 feet about 8 miles apart and about 15 miles north of Kona airport. Aircraft Z then checked on my frequency requesting advisories to JHM. I told Aircraft Z to turn immediately to a 260 degree heading and issue a traffic alert. I then issued a traffic alert to Air Carrier Y and descended them to 6;000 feet hoping to get some vertical separation as well as some lateral separation from Aircraft Z . I issued a beacon code to Aircraft Z and radar identified the aircraft. Separation was established and normal operations continued.I suspected Kona Tower was providing radar services to Aircraft Z even though they are not qualified to do so nor was the aircraft within their airspace at the time. This was confirmed by my Front Line Manager when he called Kona Tower. They were issuing radar vectors to Aircraft Z to avoid Air Carrier X inbound. Although this vector did resolve the conflict with Air Carrier X it created a new conflict with Air Carrier Y . This is why I should have been the one providing any if necessary vectors as I am the one providing approach services and not Kona tower. Aircraft Z should have been told to contact HCF for advisories soon after they departed KOA rather than vectored 15 miles north of KOA and then contacting me in a bad situation with very little time to react.Recommend training for Kona Tower controllers to review their responsibilities and understand their role is not to act as radar controllers. Also; I believe Kona Tower controllers have developed this bad habit out of necessity. The Aircraft Z glide restriction which causes them to immediately turn northbound into arrivals has led Kona Tower Controllers to start issuing vectors to these aircraft outside of their airspace because they are often already talking to the inbound arrival who is in conflict with the Aircraft Z . I recommend approach control services for KOA to eliminate this problem. Right now; we really are gambling with this situation between VFR and IFR aircraft at KOA. Even when not being vectored by Kona Tower VFR aircraft often call us for advisories when they are already in a traffic alert situation. I wish we had something similar to what we have in Class C services at OGG where this conflict is more manageable. Recommend airspace change.

Data retrieved from NASA's ASRS site and automatically converted to unabbreviated mixed upper/lowercase text. This report is for informational purposes with no guarantee of accuracy. See NASA's ASRS site for official report.