Honolulu City Councilwoman Kymberly Pine wants Oahu lifeguards to stay on the beach longer — from dawn to dusk.

Pine this week introduced Bill 39, which would have the city “establish an extended lifeguard services program” requiring lifeguards to be at the beach to cover all daytime hours.

The bill does not set a timeline for meeting the goal. But Pine voiced frustration that Mayor Kirk Caldwell’s administration has been slow in getting such a program underway even though she pushed through a resolution three years ago calling for extended lifeguard hours.

“This is a serious public safety issue that impacts our largest industry,” Pine said. “We need to take action.”

Nonresidents comprised about 43 percent of Oahu drownings from 2005 to 2014.

Both residents and tourists are in the water early in the morning and near sundown, times when lifeguards are not on duty. “We see too many tragic stories about people drowning or getting in trouble in the ocean,” Pine said.

Jim Howe, director of the Honolulu Emergency Services Department, said in a statement that he agrees, although he also suggested such an expansion in services would require additional lifeguards and money.

Howe’s Ocean Safety and Lifeguard Services Division employs about 200 full-time and part-time employees who generally work 29 beaches from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. daily, according to the bill.

Howe noted that lifeguard service at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve, among the island’s busiest beaches and most dangerous in terms of drownings, were extended to dawn to dusk in February.

“This has already saved lives,” Howe said.

“In order for lifeguard service hours to be extended successfully elsewhere, a major recruitment and training effort would have to take place, as there would be a need for additional Ocean Safety lifeguards,” Howe said, in a statement. “We look forward to continuing this dialogue with Councilmember Pine as well as the entire City Council.”

Bryan Phillips, a lifeguard and Hawaii Government Employees Association Unit 14 president, said lifeguards generally support the concept of extended hours.

“Details would need to be negotiated,” Phillips said. “HGEA and the lifeguards are committed to working with the city to make it happen.”

Pine said she was stirred to introduce the bill because of the large numbers of drownings in recent years.

Pine, who is chairwoman of the Council Committee on Business Economic Development and Tourism, is a former Waikiki rough water swimmer and Molokai Hoe Canoe Race finisher.