Editorial

Land Board Must Rein In Its Boating Division

The state Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation has once more failed the people of Hawai’i. This time, the area of failure is Kane’ohe Bay.

Past issues of this newsletter have chronicled DOBOR’s failures elsewhere: at Hanalei, at Ma’alaea, at Ke’ehi lagoon, at Honokohau, at Kihei. In all these cases – and more – the state agency whose chief constituency is assumed to be the public has taken a back seat to a much smaller group of well-heeled special interests who get DOBOR to yield to their wishes in behind-the-scenes, closed-door sessions. Even – especially – DOBOR’s nominal boss, the Board of Land and Natural Resources, has not a clue about what this rogue agency is really up to. Permits are issued, leases negotiated and signed, rules are interpreted to fit the whim of the agency – all without so much as a by-your-leave from the Land Board.

In the case at hand, members of the Land Board seemed to be acutely aware not only of DOBOR’s failings, but also of their own lapses in the exercise of proper oversight. No fewer than two of the four members voting at the April 11 meeting of the board proffered their apologies to the Kane’ohe community for the situation that had arisen as a result of DOBOR’s failure to carry out the clear wishes of the Kane’ohe Bay Task Force and the state legislature in its management of commercial ocean recreation at the north end of the bay.

The Kane’ohe Bay Task Force generally agreed that the level of commercial activity was higher than that which the bay’s natural resources could support. It was also at a level higher than what would be consistent with the rural character of the north bay area that the community wanted to retain.

To reduce commercial activity while pro–tecting existing operators, the task force al–lowed ongoing operations to continue (al–though insisting that their use of the bay was a privilege and not a right), anticipating that restrictions on the sale or transfer of permits would sooner or later bring the level of opera–tions down to the goals of the Master Plan.

It has not worked out that way. The Division of Boating has allowed sales and transfers of permits – indeed, as noted by John Reppun in his comments to the Land Board, with the transfer fees established in DOBOR rules, DOBOR has every incentive to allow such sales and none to discourage them. (The fees go into the Boating Special Fund, not the general fund.)

In addition, although boats may be retired from service, their capacity lives on. In DOBOR’s user-friendly interpretation of the guidelines set forth in the Master Plan, for example, the 31-passenger capacity of the Nani Kai, a boat that went out of service in 1992, lived on in a state of limbo until 1996, when those passenger seats were transferred to the Royal Princess.

The Division of Boating and Ocean Rec–reation has failed to live up to the expectations and requirements of the Legislature and the Kane’ohe Bay Master Plan. And the fact that the Land Board, the Kane’ohe Bay Regional Council, and other interested parties have been kept out of the loop with respect to the division’s actions is no mere oversight of the agency. Rather, it would seem to be a deliber–ate slap in the face especially to the Re–gional Council.

As the division’s files disclose, on more than one occasion, DOBOR officers discussed plans to increase vessel size in the bay with operators and with Coast Guard representa–tives while attending meetings of the Regional Council! Yet at no time were any council members informed of these plans. They knew nothing until suddenly, the vessels were simply there.

Parting Shots

Our description of DOBOR’s actions over the last few years with respect to Kane’ohe Bay is long, but still is only the tip of the iceberg. The Land Board should require of DOBOR a full accounting of how it has managed commercial boating operations in this area, including an explanation of how fees are calculated. (DOBOR gets a percentage – usually 2 per–cent – of gross receipts, but how this is calculated is unclear. At times, the fee seems to be associated with mooring permits for each boat. At other times, they appear to be associated with the Ocean Recreation Manage–ment Area permits. One document observed at He’eia Kea – but which we were not allowed to have a copy of – suggested that receipts were paid for each individual com–mercial boat rather than by operator. And although this document had entries through March 1997, there was no tabulation at all for receipts from the two largest vessels, the Ale Ale Kai and the Royal Princess.)

Our own suggestion is that the Land Board hire an independent auditor to attempt to sort out some of the myriad problems that this agency appears to have – not just with Kane’ohe, but with practically every aspect of its operation.

In addition, the Land Board must exercise its oversight responsibilities to ensure that the existing operators are in absolutely strict com–pliance with sanitary requirements.

Then there’s the issue of what appears to be a bribery attempt by Morning Star Cruises. As we report, the company’s request to have approval to purchase the Ale Ale Kai was not made until July 22, 1996. The very next day, 10 Mahalo airline coupons were delivered to the DOBOR office. In a letter to the Ethics Commission dated July 24, Steve Thompson asserted that the decision on the pending request had already been made before the coupons were delivered. In other words, within 24 hours of the request having been made, a decision had been rendered. Remarkable. If only DOBOR could have worked so speedily on writing rules for Kane’ohe Bay.

Volume 7, Number 11 May 1997