HAWAU-R-03-006 C2 SWIMMING AGAINST THE TIDE: CHANGING HANAUMA BAY FROM A BEACH PARK TO A NATURE PRESERVE Peter J. Rappa, Hawaii Sea Grant Extension Service Keywords: Marine Protected Areas, Marine Parks, Beach Parks, Hawaii INTRODUCTION Hawaii's economyis basedon tourism,It is estimatedthat to~sm accountsfor 35 per cent of the stateeconomy and 42 per centof its employment.Ocean recreation is a major part of the tourist industry, In 1992, ocean recreation accounted for S 797 million in revenueand 7,021jobs. As the main driver of Hawaii's economy,heads of the tourism industry have a lot of political and social influence. The industry is built on the attractivenessof the island's outdoorenvironment, especially its beaches,Hanaiuna Bay is next to only Waikiki Beachin popularity.In the 1980'sa mini-industrycomprised of 80 companieshad grown up aroundthe commercialuse of this City and County/State facility Hong, 2002!. That is why it is surprisingthat in 1990the City and County of Honolulu approved a managementplan that made protection of the Bay the prime directive and closed it off to commercial tour operators, A move that was akin to swimming against the tide. HANAUMA BAY Hanauma Bay is located in the southeastpart of the island of Oahu, about a 20 minute drive from Waikiki. It is one of Hawaii's most famous beaches and tourist attraction. In 1961, the movie Blue Hawaii starring Elvis Presley was filmed on the beach at Hanauma Bay, putting it on the tourist map, 3urisdiction over the Bay is split between the City and County of Honolulu which owns the land side, and the State which controls all the waters out to the three mile limit. Although both the City and State have management authority, it is the City that hastaken the lead in managingthe Bay. The Bay itself is only 101acres and the shore side park is 250 acres of which 50 acres are improved, The beach totals only 8 acres and it is where the great majority of users go. The land on which Hanauma Bay is situated was given to the City and County of Honolulu in 1927 by the Bishop Estate, the major private land owner in Hawaii, to be developed as a park. The City and County began improvements in the 1930's when the road from Honolulu to the eastern part of the island was improved. In 1967, the state designated the waters in the Bay as the first Marine Life Conservation District MLCD!. MLCD's are state designated marine protected areashaving a set of rules that prohibit many extractive activities. No fishing of any kind or the taking of any marine resources is allowed at the Bay, Fish populationshave experienced a dramaticrise sinceit becamea MLCD, making it the most popular snorkeling beach on Oahu. Hanauma Bay became a popular destination in the 1970's as the islands experienced a rapid rise in the number of tourist, Use figures show that over one million and a half million visitors came to Hanauma Bay in 1985 and by 1987 the figure was over 3,6 million or an average of 10,000 people per day Hawaii, 1990!. At this usage rate it was In: CZ03, Baltimore, MD July 13-18, 2003 easyto seethe deteriorationof the physicalenvironment. Cars regularly parked on the grassy picnic area as the parking lot filled by early morning. Trash became a problem as wastereceptacles overflowed during the day andwere not emptied.Sewage from the bathrooms regularly spilled into the Bay as the cesspool systemswere overburdened. 1990 MANAGEMENT PLAN The outcry from usersreached a crescendoin 1989when the local newspapersbegan running featurestories about the Bay's deterioration Hastings,1989!, In 1990the Departmentof Parksand Recreation DPR! implementeda neweight-point management plan for the Bay. The plan called for: 1. Hiring a park manager 6. instituted traffic controls 2, Instituting park hours 7. Development of an education 3. Restricting tour companies from program dropping visitors 8. Pumping sewage into a sewerage 4. Closing the park one day a week system. 5. Banning Fish feeding The plan's aim wasto radically reducethe numberof userswho cameto the Bay daily from a high of 10,000a dayto 3,200a dayor about 1.2 million a year.In orderto accomplishthis reduction,the Department'splan called for a banon tour companies droppingoff visitors to the Bay. As many as half the visitors were being broughtto the Bay by tour companiesfor a four to eight hour stay Hong, 2002!. Under the new managementplan tour operatorswere limited to stoppingat the Bay for a 15minute photo opportunitybefore having to leave, Another group of commercialfirms operatingin the Bay were snorkeland dive tour companies.They too were limited by the new managementplan by a permitsystem that allowed only 130 customersa dayduring weekdayswith no commercialoperations permittedon weekendsand holidays.The limit of 130was imposedby the State Departmentof Land andNatural Resources DLNR!, which hasjurisdiction over the water. Private firms fought the implementationof the plan in the City Council, the legislative body that ultimately had responsibilityfor approvingthe DPR's plan. However,the Mayor and severalof the City Council's nine memberswere firm supportersof the plan. Theywere able to persuadethe remainder of theCouncil to passit overthe objections of the tour industry. Threeother changesthat took placesince 1990played an importantrole of changing HanaumaBay from a beachpark to a naturepreserve. In 1995the nameof HanaumaBay BeachPark was officially changedto the HanaumaBay NaturePreserve, This was in line with the DPR's intent to placethe managementemphasis on protectingthe natural resotucesrather than accommodating more visitors, In 1996,the City Councilapproved anentry fee of $3.00per person for all non-residents13 years or older.This created an incomestream that would providefunding for staff, maintenance,education, research, and facility improvements.Finally, in 2002the City and Countycompleted a new educationfacility, This allowed a substantialexpansion of the educationeffort that had beenon-going since 1990. FRIENDS OF HANAUMA BAY At the sametime the new managementplan was being implemented,a groupof concernedcitizens formedthe Friendsof HanaumaBay FOHB!. The charterof the non- profit entity requiredit to promotethe protectionof HanaumaBay and to supportthe management and education program in its effort to preserve the Bay's resources, The FOHB are a veryimportant part of the managementof the Bay andprobably the prime reasonthe new rules are in force today.The membersof the FOHB regularly lobby the Mayor and City Council against weakening the new managementregime and for improvementsto the managementplan. They werealso instrumentalin gettingapproval of a new education facility that opened in 2002. HANAUMA BAY EDUCATION PROGRAM The HanaumaBay EducationProgram HBEP! is an importantcomponent in changing visitors' attitudes towards the nature preserve. HBEP began in 1990 as a Sea Grant Extensionprogram, part of its effort to improvemarine recreation and the quality of ocean tourism through education. The program began modestly with a desk on the beach and staff and volunteersinforming visitors aboutreef ecosystems.It beganwith one full- time and one p~-time staff members and about 35 volunteers. The bulk of HBEP's funding for the time period 1990 to 1997 came from Sea Grant Extension with grants from both the City and County's DPR and the State's DLNR supplementingthat source.When funds from the entry fee startingto comein, the DPR in 1997 was able to underwrite the HBEP through a contract with the Sea Grant Extension. In that sameyear, HBEP was given a buildingin the upperpart of the park. The building was constructed to replace a snack bar on the beach belowwhich was never used for that purpose, and was converted into an education center by HBEP. With funding from the DPR, HBEP was able to expandits staff to 3.5 full time employees FTE!, With the additional staff, HBEP was able to spend more time recruiting and training volunteers and the volunteer corps grew to over 70 by 2000. In August 2002, the DPR opened its new educational facility at the Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve. The educations program staff has now grown to 5 FTE to handle additional duties created by the opening of the new center. The volunteer corps is now over 100 as HBEP attempts to reach everyone who comes to the park with a messageof conservation. An important feature of the new education center is an orientation film which everyone must view before they can go to the beach, The seven minute orientation video is played 5 times an hour in a theater designed to accommodate 125 at a time. The film is introducedby HBEP volunteer.The film itself gives a brief accountof the history, biology, and geology of the Bay before it goes into ways everyone can help to protect the environment. PROBLEMS The change &om beach park to nature preserve was not without problems. Aside from the commercial operators who stood to lose business,and fought the implementation of the plan, someresidents and visitors resistedthe change.Residents chafed at having to show proof or residencyto enterthe Bay without being chargesand/or felt that they did not needto view an orientationvideo beforegoing to the beach.Many visitors remember earlier visits to the Bay beforethe restrictionswere implementedin 1990.They fondly rememberparking their carsand going to the beachwithout having to pay or to seean orientationvideo, and being ableto feed the fish. Happily, disgruntledusers are only a small percentageof the daily visitors, The majority of peoplewho cometo the Bay view the change as positive, Therehave been several major problemshowever, including challengesby commercial companiesagainst the ban on tour groups,challenges by non-residentsto the imposition of a feeand most importantlychallenges by residentsto the dev'elopmentof a new education center, Twice in the pastfive yearstour companieshave devised schemes to allow them to drop off visitors at the Bay to go to the beach.The first appealwent to the Mayor requesting that the Bay accommodate1500 commercial tour customersa dayin placeof thosethat cometo the park by public transportation,an averageof about800 a dayby city bus, A secondappeal to the City Council in 2002by the Hawaii TransportationAssociation asked for the same thing.