Hanalei tour
boating to
be halted

Cayetano's plan for the Kauai river
delights some, but stuns operators
in the $7.5 million industry

By Trish Moore
Star-Bulletin

LIHUE -- Gov. Ben Cayetano's plan to move commercial tour boat operations from the Hanalei Estuary was greeted with applause from environmentalists and dismay from tour boat operators.

"I'm speechless," said Diane Daniells, president of the Hanalei Community Association. "He's a very brave man to do this."

Geoff Wall, operations manager of Hanalei Sea Tours, said he was stunned by the governor's action. "Personally, I don't think commercial boating has been given a fair shake in this. Many of the powers that be were sincerely trying to work toward a resolution on this."

In a news release, Cayetano noted that tour boats along the Na Pali coast are a valuable visitor attraction that should be encouraged, but said the "Hanalei Estuary is not the place."

He said the river is too restrictive for both commercial tour boats and recreational activities such as swimming and fishing.

"If business is to flourish, it needs a favorable, stable legal and economic climate, and the support of the people," the governor said.

Business split community

In recent years tourists have been caught in the cross fire of a community long divided over commercialized boating. Protesters have staged demonstrations at the boat launch site and blocked boats as they entered and exited the river. In June, passengers on the first United Airlines flight to Kauai since Hurricane Iniki walked a gauntlet of picketers protesting the industry.

"Plain and simple, the current situation is bad for business, and it cannot continue," Cayetano said.

His announcement comes on the heels of President Clinton's designating the Hanalei as one of 14 American Heritage rivers last month.

The designation means a federally funded river expert will work with the community to tap federal grants and programs and develop a long-range plan to preserve the river.

The Hanalei community was surprised by Cayetano's announcement because earlier this month state officials said they were waiting for the county's plan on how it would manage the boat launch facility before coming out with their own set of regulations.

People 'enjoying the peace'

Tour boat companies that had operated for years without county permits were ordered out of the river earlier this year by Mayor Maryanne Kusaka. The county and state had been jointly working on a management scheme for the industry.

Cayetano, who visited the island last week, said he was "moved" by the sight of children splashing and laughing in the rivermouth, and residents and tourists "side by side enjoying the peace and tranquility that they've enjoyed only since last February when motorized boats ceased operating."

The industry has represented a large chunk of the north shore economy, and the shutdown resulted in the loss of nearly 200 jobs.

Permits of the six remaining companies -- three of them motorized operations -- will be phased out during the next year, said Mike Wilson, director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources.

The state will try to relocate boaters to existing small boat harbors, said Howard Gehring, acting boating administrator for the department.

Companies that ran boats without permits in past years will have to pay back fees of 2 percent of their gross receipts to get state permits, Gehring said.

They also will need to invest in larger boats to make the longer trip from the harbors to the Na Pali coast -- which will put many out of business.

Killing an economic engine

"What they have in effect done is let a $7.5 million industry die," said Clarence Greff, whose son, Clancy, owns Captain Zodiac Raft Expeditions. "To develop a company and just to have it shut down, for whatever reason, I think is wrong."

John White, who has a county permit to take 60 passengers a day out of the river, said he's run tours there since the 1970s and has followed the law all along.

"I find it quite shocking that they can't come to some solution that is more middle of the road," he said.