Boat tours off a Hawaii beach may have to shut down

The waters off Kaanapali Beach are often busy — in the summer and fall, with snorkeling boat tours and dolphin watch excursions, and in the winter and spring, with whale watching trips. But these Hawaii tour operators are worried they may have to shut down following a court order issued in December.

All commercial boats and watercraft need a commercial use permit from the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources to do business off Kaanapali, but a Maui court ordered Dec. 4 that DLNR must also complete environmental assessments for these permits. Until those assessments are done, DLNR must halt issuing new permits and renewing existing ones for commercial operators in Kaanapali waters.

Without permits, these businesses cannot operate. “This decision comes at a time when Maui is still recovering from the devastating wildfires in Lahaina,” Philippe Le Blanc, partner and chief operating operator of Sea Maui, said in a court statement. “Many families and businesses are struggling to rebuild, and this ruling adds another blow to a community already dealing with immense hardship.”  

Tour operators worry that temporarily stopping services could cause financial distress, resulting in layoffs, sales of vessels and the scaling back of operations — or even permanent closure.

“Shutting down our operation for another undetermined, extended period of time would be the deathblow of a company I built from the ground up into a business that can support my Maui family, my business partner’s Maui family, and the Maui families of our employees,” Thomas Brown, president of Auau Kai, said in a court statement. Brown launched Auau Kai, which does business as the Magic Merman Snorkel Charters, six years ago, he said in his statement.

In a statement, DLNR said that it “has every intention of following the recent court order,” but it is seeking a reconsideration. A new hearing is set for Jan. 17.

“DLNR is looking into a solution that addresses the environmental concerns of the plaintiffs and concerned community members, while recognizing the economic impact the court’s order has on Kaanapali permittees and those businesses that rely on these activities to support their families and employees, as they recover from the Lahaina wildfires,” the statement said.

DLNR would not comment further because of ongoing litigation.

In response to DLNR’s request for reconsideration, Lance Collins, the attorney for the plaintiffs, told SFGATE, “Look, we’re not trying to get anybody’s job lost but we need compliance. I mean, this lawsuit’s been going on for almost a decade and it’s, like, you guys are breaking the law.”

The lawsuit was originally filed in 2017 by the West Maui Preservation Association, Na Papai Wawae Ulaula and West Maui resident Randal Draper. It accused DLNR of not following environmental review procedures, as required by state law. Collins won the case on appeal in April 2024.

Draper, who has since died, frequently visited Kaanapali Beach and had concerns about the number of public parking spots being used by commercial businesses.

Hotels have to provide public parking near the beach, which is typically a small number of stalls. But Draper saw that many of them were filled by employees, agents, contractors or customers of the tour operators.

“These permits should require them to identify where their customers and employees are going to park. And if you’re saying, ‘OK, well, some hotel is giving us spaces,’ then there needs to be a signed agreement and it needs to be clear where those spaces are,” Collins said. “Because the hotels can’t just say, ‘Well, you can park in our public space.’”

Other concerns include boats that are “discharging sewage and refuse in nearshore waters,” the complaint said, and safety concerns regarding how the boats interact with people on the beach.

Collins said the plaintiffs do not support a reconsideration of the decision. But he is proposing interim conditions, should it come to that, including identifying where customers and employees should park; marking the ocean with buoys so the public knows where boats are coming in and out; and putting signs on the beach to let people know where boats will come onto shore.

“Papai has lots of members who are also fire survivors. Nobody wants them to lose their jobs. But these owners have to do the environmental review,” Collins said. “… It is possible for these people to do the appropriate environmental review and for people to continue having their jobs.”

Editor’s note: SFGATE recognizes the importance of diacritical marks in the Hawaiian language. We are unable to use them due to the limitations of our publishing platform.