KAANAPALI, Hawaii (KHON2) — Boat operators in Kāʻanapali, Maui, might not be allowed to launch or operate from the world-famous beach starting next year.
It’s all due to a court ruling and a lawsuit dating back to 2017.
Nearly 30 boat operators at Kāʻanapali Beach told KHON2 that they’re worried they won’t be in business within a few months.
“The timing of this is really, really difficult,” explained Denver Coon of Trilogy Excursions. ” It’s already been a tough year, and now we’re going to start the new year kind of in the unknown.”
Unknown because the state has not informed boaters of a ruling that happened last week when Maui judge Peter Cahill ordered the Department of Land and Natural Resources to halt issuing and renewing commercial permits off Kāʻanapali until the DLNR could complete an environmental assessment, or determine the permits are exempt from review.
“Disheartening and shocking are two words that are obviously very important right now,” said Mike Kelley, owner of Teralani Sailing Adventures. “This being two weeks from Christmas.”
“None of us have heard anything from anyone in administration or harbors or rules regarding this,” he continued.
He said he has about 40 employees that would be impacted and are uncertain about their future in 2025. “Do they need to move to the mainland? Can they put their kids in school? Should they buy groceries? We just have no idea what’s going on,” Kelley added.
Judge Cahill’s decision dates back to 2017 when a group initially filed a lawsuit against DLNR asking it to consider the environmental impacts of the increased commercial activity in Kāʻanapali.
“It has taken this long to work its way through the court system,” said Kai Nishiki, a community activist and also part of the group Na Papa’i Wawae ‘Ula’ula which filled the lawsuit. “We asked them to rule that DLNR must be required to do an environmental assessment prior to issuing a commercial use permits at Kāʻanapali, because of our concerns about the increased impacts their businesses were having on public access, public access parking, discharge of wastewater into our near shore environment and the cumulative impacts of these activities on our communities, including public health and safety issues on Kāʻanapali Beach.”
She said there’s a constant loading and offloading of passengers, sometimes in dangerous ocean conditions. “It’s our understanding that DLNR is required to do an environmental assessment before they can continue issuing these permits, and so we are waiting to see what DLNR’s response will be,” Nishiki said. “We’re very happy and relieved that we have finally received some vindication that there are impacts and that they should be looked at.”
She said the beach is very crowded with little enforcement and little safety protocols.
“It definitely feels like it has been mismanaged, it does not have appropriate management of commercial activities, and so there are a lot of user conflicts, and public health and safety has been definitely impacted at Kāʻanapali due to this mismanagement,” Nishiki said.
Nishiki said this was filed in 2017, well before the Lahaina fire displaced residents and others who lost their jobs too. She said she wants DLNR, the community, and the boat operators to come together and discuss solutions that would make everyone happy.
Boat operators said they have customers park at hotels, pump discharge on land, follow all the rules that were put in place 40 years ago with public input.
“They alleged that a boat had discharged its waste near the shoreline, which is illegal under federal law,” explained Coon. “All of our boats are outfitted so that they can only pump out their waste on land, and they actually physically cannot pump into the water and it’s been like that for decades.”
He said the permits allow for the catamarans to load and unload passengers from the beach.
The DLNR wouldn’t comment or answer questions regarding Judge Cahill’s decision saying litigation is still active.
“Families have put their hearts and souls and money into this, the families are going to be the most tragically impacted by this,” said Kelley.
We’re hoping DLNR can reach out to the judge and cause a temporary amendment of this or revision or an understanding where an environmental assessment could be called for and procured while operations continue,” he explained. “To have everything shut down and then seek an EA, which could take a year or more, just seems crazy.”
“There’s over 900 jobs that were lost from Lahaina harbor that still have not come back,” Coon added. “And now you’re going to add another 230 plus jobs on top of that.”
The boat companies said if nothing is done soon it would have a ripple effect across West Maui, including the businesses at Whaler’s Village.
KHON2 reached out to the Attorney General’s office who said this court decision only impacts Kāʻanapali, and not other areas in the state. The office would not comment further on the litigation.