Lahaina Small Boat Harbor sustained $30 million worth of damage in the Aug. 8 Maui wildfire and its destruction continues to hit Maui’s activities and attractions market hard, leaving many commercial boating operations and about 1,000 industry workers in limbo.
Most commercial ocean tour companies and recreational boaters moored at Lahaina Harbor lost vessels in the fire, others temporarily lost usage as the state tries to figure out a way forward. Some have lost even more and are grappling with deaths of family and friends and burned homes. After the initial losses, the waiting is the hardest part.
Lahaina Harbor is in a holding pattern after sustaining damage to all facilities, including docks, moorings, harbor office and utilities. Officials from the state Department of Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) and the DLNR Communications Office told the Honolulu Star-Advertiser in a March 27 email that “until funding becomes available, there is no way to set a timeline for reopening (Lahaina Harbor).”
That has left a lot of West Maui commercial boaters in limbo, and the boating operations and businesses that support them are struggling. DOBOR and DLNR officials said there were approximately 95 vessels, both recreational and commercial, in Lahaina Harbor prior to the fire, and approximately 48 recreational vessels and 28 commercial vessels were destroyed.
Heidi Speedie, operations manager of Kolea Charters, which operates Reefdancer, a semi-sub destroyed in Lahaina Harbor, said the West Maui commercial boating fleet had hoped to get back to business for the reopening of Maui tourism last October.
Speedie estimates that fewer than a third of destroyed commercial vessels from Lahaina Harbor have been able to restart. She said another 16 or so boats owned by West Maui commercial operators also burned outside of Lahaina Harbor, and it’s unclear how many have resumed operations.
“We are thinking it could be a few years before Lahaina Harbor reopens,” Speedie said. “The timeline is unclear.”
DOBOR and DLNR have held Zoom and in-person community meetings to address Lahaina Small Boat Harbor, which is still closed, and Mala Wharf, which reopened in mid-October last year. Officials said they expect to hold the next meeting to reveal further plans for the harbor and the wharf once funding becomes available.
The U.S. Coast Guard completed the salvage of all Lahaina Harbor vessels in December and the state has begun addressing its checklist to safely reopen Lahaina Harbor, which could require dredging. (For a more thorough update, refer to the breakout box accompanying this story.)
Eventually, an access route through Lahaina also will be needed to allow people to get to the harbor. But it’s unclear when that will happen given that restrictions are still present even for residents.
DOBOR and DLNR Communications Office officials said all permits are in a holdover status until Lahaina Harbor is rebuilt.
It’s been a rough eight months for Atlantis Submarines, which lost a $10 million submarine, a $150,000 tugboat, a skiff, and two offices in the Lahaina Harbor fire. One of the company’s employees died in the fire, and 12 employees have left the company to take care of personal challenges or because they couldn’t wait for Atlantis Submarines to reopen on Maui.
Atlantis CEO and President Ron Williams said, “We basically lost the whole Maui operation. It’s been tough, especially coming on the back of COVID.”
The only part of the Maui operation that survived was Holokai, the 55-foot-long passenger vessel that Atlantis Submarines used to shuttle passengers to the submarine. Its stern was scorched, and it needed repairs; although, it was fortunate to be one of about 13 boats in the Lahaina Harbor that survived the firestorm.
Williams told the Star- Advertiser in late March that Holokai was repaired and the company’s spare submarine is available for Maui. But the vessels are currently moored on Oahu, and Williams has no idea when they may return to Maui.
“We’re ready,” he said. “It’s kind of a two-challenge thing. When can you get people into Lahaina Harbor and when can you actually get Lahaina Harbor ready to go?”
Williams said marketing messaging also needs to improve to ensure that visitors are not confused over what is open and that they are drawn to a Hawaii vacation.
“We need a nice strong marketing message to the world that Hawaii is still a beautiful place to visit,” he said. “I want people to come to Hawaii and enjoy it. You can’t have a great vacation if you don’t have activities and attractions.”
While waiting to resume Maui operations, Williams said he is trying to add value to his other Hawaii products, and on April 1 launched a new combination package on Oahu, where passengers on the Majestic by Atlantis Cruises can walk over to the Ka Moana Luau at Aloha Tower.
He said that there’s a lack of skilled workers in Hawaii for commercial boating operations so keeping them here is critical to Maui’s reopening and to the industry’s future across the islands.
Williams has relocated some Maui employees to Atlantis’ operations on Hawaii island and Oahu, and has helped with housing. He said the employees who couldn’t leave Maui were furloughed so they could keep their health benefits.
Most of Maui’s commercial boating industry is still in limbo following the fires and need flexibility from the state, said Toni Marie Davis, executive director at the Activities & Attraction Association of Hawaii.
“The way we come out of this with the community hand in hand is operating safely and with common sense. The legal operators need support. There are enough operators not coming back for a very long time because there is no Lahaina Harbor. The state, specifically DLNR Chair Dawn Chang, needs to support the legal operators. Tourism still hasn’t returned fully on Maui. We need all the help that we can get.”
Some commercial operators, especially those with smaller boats, have relocated to other Maui boating locales. But that has exacerbated tensions between commercial boaters and other members of the community, especially those already concerned about access for recreational users and for Native Hawaiians to practice traditional and customary rights such as fishing.
DLNR has made post-fire usage changes at Mala Wharf, where only existing commercial permittees of Mala Wharf are allowed to operate and only on nonholiday weekdays. Tensions there are especially high and ad-hoc signs have been erected telling tourists to go home.
Maui community activist Kai Nishiki said a new pain point is that visitors are entering Mala Wharf and going to nearby Pu‘unoa beach or “Baby Beach,” and then looky lous are walking along the coastline into fire-scared areas.
“Residents who live there are having to deal with tourists coming there to go to the beach and taking pictures of their damaged houses or neighbors’ homes that were burned down. People are cutting up from the beach and going into Lahaina town,” Nishiki said.
Nishiki said some of the signs erected by the community have been vandalized or stolen.
“There is a bit of a war going on down there,” she said. “We have definitely reached out to DLNR and the county to ask about enforcement and security and whose responsibility it is to educate and tell people who are going down there what they can and cannot do.”
Speedie said anti-tourism sentiments are working against the West Maui commercial boating fleet, which had hoped that with Lahaina Harbor shut down that DLNR/DOBOR would approve temporary alternative access points such as Kaanapali, Mala, Maalaea, Kihei or even outside Maui Nui. She said the fleet also asked for temporary approval for support vessels to launch at Mala to care for offshore moored vessels in Lahaina, Mala and Kaanapali.
Speedie said she found a new vessel that she could purchase to replace Reefdancer in Alaska, and submitted a recovery plan to DOBOR.
Her plan was to partner with UFO Parasail, which had an existing Kaanapali permit, to shuttle passengers from Kaanapali, to Reefdancer, which would be positioned offshore near Baby Beach. Passengers would stay on the boat as they have for the past 31 years of Reefdancer’s Maui operations.
However, Speedie’s hopes were dashed when DOBOR denied the plan on the grounds “DLNR Chairperson (Dawn Chang) told the community that there would be no increase in commercial activity except at the Maalaea Small Boat Harbor.”
Speedie, whose business won’t work from Maalaea, said she also explored leasing an existing commercial permit from a Mala Wharf permittee whose boat had burned down. But she said that plan fell through when she discovered that the law bans nontrailerable boats from operating at Mala Wharf.
She said the Alaska sellers who own the replacement semi-sub won’t hold the vessel until she is able to purchase it, so the clock is ticking. Even if Speedie finds a way to utilize Mala Wharf, changes that DLNR has made since the fire would reduce business operations by at least 30% weekly and more if the week has a holiday or bad weather.
DOBOR and DLNR Communications Office officials, said the new Mala Wharf restrictions were,“Based on community sentiment, as Mala Wharf pre-fire was primarily for recreational boaters, while Lahaina (Small Boat Harbor) is for commercial operations.”
Nishiki said Mala Wharf has a long history as a fishing village, and local fisherman say it was built for their recreational use. However, Davis contends that Mala Wharf has been mixed-use from its beginning, when there were approximately the same number of commercial permits as are there today.
Nishiki said even before the fire, parties interested in preserving Native Hawaiian rights filed contested case hearings objecting to DLNR issuing permits and permit renewals at Mala Wharf without a Ka Pa‘akai analysis, which provides a framework for assessing impacts to Native Hawaiian constitutionally protected rights. Other legal actions also have occurred, she said.
Nishiki said there is greater tolerance for commercial use at Lahaina Harbor, but that usage should be determined through a community-visioning process.
“Those who have a financial interest in the (West Maui area) would obviously like things to return to normal as soon as possible,” she said. “Do we want (Lahaina) to be used as it was primarily as a tourist trap and a place for tourists to go? Or do we want it to be more resident-centered? There are definitely conversations about a pre-contact revival of Lahaina town.”
Speedie said commercial permit holders are required to be Maui residents and believe that supporting West Maui’s commercial boating industry provides broad community benefits. She said West Maui’s commercial fleet represents nearly 1,000 direct jobs, and an untold number of indirect jobs, in a town with 13,000 residents.
“These people want to get back to work as soon as possible so they can stay on Maui. Many of my workers have already had to leave,” she said. “It is vital that West Maui’s ocean recreation industry survive in order to preserve the many livelihoods that depend on it.”
Officials from DOBOR and the DLNR Communications office said, “DLNR recognizes the vital importance of both Lahaina Harbor and Mala Wharf for commercial operations, as well as for recreational boating. The key takeaways did not change because of the fire. DOBOR has been steadfastly working with stakeholders and community groups to accommodate both commercial and private recreational boating activities.”
REOPENING LAHAINA SMALL BOAT HARBOR
An update on the status of the state’s checklist
>> Rebuilding of harbor fuel system: Repairs ongoing, expected completion by end of April.
>> Removal of piles and mooring anchors: Request for Proposals (RFP) issued, Notice to Proceed was scheduled for April 1 and completion by May 27.
>> Replacement of main loading pier fenders: Request for bids was scheduled for first week in April.
>> Harbor office and ferry pier repair: Demolition and rebuild plans being prepared by consultant. Request for bids for demo and rebuild work scheduled for April and August, respectively.
>> Rebuilding of front-row piers and dingy dock: Consultant has been selected and working on design and permitting. Request for bids expected by September.
>> Rebuilding of inner marginal wharf (IMW): Replacement of IMW already was scheduled and contracted before August 2023 wildfires. Commencement of construction pending results of fire damage inspection and testing of IMW piles to determine whether they are reusable.
>> Rebuilding of outer marginal wharf: No schedule set for issuance of RFP. Awaiting appropriation of funds for design, permitting, and construction.
>> Replacement of fire-damaged utilities: No schedule set for issuance of RFP. Awaiting status of restoring utilities from County of Maui, Hawaiian Electric, and Hawaiian Telcom companies.
Source: DOBOR and DLNR Communications Office
