Before Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve was closed due to COVID-19 concerns, its turquoise coral-laced shoreline had long been a snorkeling magnet, attracting an average 3,000 visitors a day.
But a “biological carrying capacity” survey, completed for Honolulu Hale in spring 2019, found that this level of visitor traffic was a contributing factor in declines in coral cover, fish population and water clarity — and rightly raised questions about whether the preserve was at risk of being loved to death.
In an encouraging move, the City Council is poised to help address environmental concerns with two measures. A recently approved resolution urges the city to set up a reservation system to limit the count of visitors allowed on the beach; and a bill in the works would increase entrance fees for nonresidents, thereby generating more revenue to help maintain marine life and surrounding shoreline.
There’s now a good amount of evidence that the carrying capacity survey, conducted over a yearlong period, was on the mark. In May, the University of Hawaii’s Coral Reef Ecology Lab said in a report that water near the beach was nearly 50% clearer since Hanauma closed on March 18. And last week, a city official reported that the water was just shy of 65% clearer. What’s more, scientists are seeing more fish traffic and other signs of better bay health.
All this supports the call for a shift from an all-comers entrance practice, to a limited reservation system. In recent years, this strategy has been employed at other visitor magnets, including Kauai’s Haena State Park as well as at Maui’s Haleakala National Park. And the upshot appears to be improved environmental conditions and, for many visitors, a better experience.
In 2017, when a daily count of upwards of 1,000 people were ascending Haleakala to view sunrise, the National Park Service started requiring reservations and limiting the number of vehicles, thereby potentially cutting in half the number of early-morning visitors.
Before the reservation system took effect, some drivers who couldn’t find a parking spot would park on the side of the road or on the road itself, which blocked the way for emergency responders. And the Park Service said people would sometimes stray off paved areas and trample on rare plant seedlings and root systems. No more.
Before spring 2018, when Kauai was hit with torrential rains that touched off a lengthy closure of the remote north shore, Haena park also grappled with what was seen as too much tourism. When the park reopened last summer, it implemented a reservation-and-shuttle plan that aims to limit daily access to 900 visitors — down from previous daily counts estimated at 2,000.
In the case of Haena — and Hanauma — an extended pause in tourism presents a chance to smoothly reset a range of expectations for visitors and residents. As a means to helping protect the bay as a gem to be enjoyed by generations to come, the city should put in place a Hanauma reservation system before it reopens to the public.
The latest draft of Bill 44 would increase the entrance fee for nonresidents to $12 per person from $7.50, and parking fees to $3 per vehicle, up from $1. Hawaii residents would continue to pay $1 per vehicle, with no charge for beach access. Compared to other attractions here and elsewhere, these higher fees should be supported as a relative bargain.
Entrance fees at Volcanoes and Haleakala national parks this year increased to $30 — up from $25 — per vehicle. At both, according to the park service, about 80% of fees stay in those parks, with the balance going to non-fee-collecting national parks. Similarly, the City Council should insist that the bulk of the revenues generated at Hanauma go toward its upkeep and upgrades.
