The state Department of Land and Natural Resources has been wrangling with the challenges of managing surf schools at Kahaluu Beach Park for years. New draft rules include many soild ideas for management, including restricting the number of students in the water, improving student to instructor ratio, and potentially restricting hours of surf school operation. There is, however, one part of the new proposed rules — Section 13-256-152 (a) — that is alarming and potentially precedent-setting as it relates to commercial vs. noncommercial use and access to the shoreline.
Two use “zones” would be created offshore at Kahaluu, possibly delineated by marker bouys. Unless I’m misreading the rules or misinterpreting what was said at the recent state meeting, “Zone A” would be for surfing and surf school use only and “Zone B” for “other” including swimming and snorkeling. While the rules might improve the safety of some ocean enthusiasts and diminish increased crowding because of surf schools doing business in the bay, the rule limiting noncommercial activity in Zone A should be of concern to all ocean enthusiasts, including surf instructors and non-ocean users who support noncommercial, public access to the ocean.
The new rule precariously puts commercial use above that of the public. Swimmers would be banned from going into Zone A. Per the wording of the proposed rules, this zone would extend from what’s called the “Pyramid rock” on the outcrop offshore Kahaluu north to Kamoa Point (though on the map, this doesn’t appear to jive with the written description).
This part of the rule is ostensibly for safety and, as can be expected, more for the safety of the uniformed and reckless tourist who doesn’t familiarize himself with the dangers of Hawaii’s waters before setting out into them. That lack of education and safe use of the ocean has been, and will always be, a challenge. (Lucky for them, lifeguards patrol this beach.) But what about the rights of the rest of us, especially resident taxpayers and informed ocean users?
The new rules were written to unravel the problems presented by commercial surf instruction, not to govern public use of the ocean. In too broad a stroke, this could result in members of the general public losing their traditionally enjoyed freedoms and rights to swim where they always have. This would be too high a price for better management of surf schools and may, in fact, be illegal under state law.
If you don’t speak up before the May 7 deadline, noncommercial swimmers could soon be barred from the ocean to accommodate profit-making ventures. To read the rules and comment on them, go to dlnr.hawaii.gov/dobor/files/2013/09/13-256-152-Draft.pdf. Comments can be faxed to 587-1977, attention: HAR 13-256-152 or emailed to dlnr.harreview@hawaii.gov using “HAR 13-256-152” in the subject line. Finally they can be mailed snail mail to Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation 333 Queen St., Suite 300, Honolulu, HI 96813, Attn: HAR 13-256-152.
Janice Palma-Glennie is a resident of Kona.
Viewpoint articles are the opinion of the writer and not necessarily the opinion of West Hawaii Today.