The Kula Kai, Hawaii’s last sampan aku fishing boat, is likely headed to retirement on dry land as a state agency is poised to donate the 64-year-old vessel to a nonprofit maritime educational organization.
The Hawaii Community Development Authority will meet today to vote on donating the Kula Kai to the Kewalo Keiki Fishing Conservancy. The meeting begins at 9:15 a.m. at 461 Cooke St.
Shipwrights and others worked in recent years to keep the wooden boat in the water. Its owner, Stanley "Butch" Jacobe, was using the boat for commercial fishing to raise money for repairs, but HCDA Executive Director Anthony Ching said Jacobe faced competition from large fishing fleets.
"Vessels require upkeep and upkeep requires money," Ching said.
The Coast Guard deemed the Kula Kai no longer seaworthy in March.
"This is the last fishing vessel of its kind, so it’s unique for preservation and education," Ching said.
The HCDA will vote today on whether to accept a donation of the boat from its owner and then transfer ownership to the Kewalo Keiki Fishing Conservancy. The agency will also vote on waiving the Kula Kai’s mooring fees and spending $50,000 to remove it from Kewalo Basin.
The conservancy is a nonprofit organization dedicated to teaching children to fish and preserving Hawaii’s fishing culture, its website says.
The plan is to lift the Kula Kai out of Kewalo Basin with a crane and move the 88-foot-long boat to the Kewalo Keiki Fishing Conservancy, which is next to the Children’s Discovery Center and the former John Dominis Restaurant in Kakaako.
"Having this sampan is to honor our fishing history and our fishing families," said Scotty Furushima, director of Kewalo Keiki. "It will tell the long history of the art of boat building."
Ching said once the decision is made official, it should take a few days to get the Kula Kai to the conservancy. But it could take months, even years, before the conservancy will open the sampan for the public to view, Furushima said.
In addition to scraping off barnacles, Furushima said the Kula Kai must be fixed and made safe before it debuts.
