Question: Could you please find out if there is a rule or law that says that we cannot fish from the sidewalk on Pier 7? A friend was fishing from the sidewalk area, when a security guard came from the Hawaiian Electric power plant across the street and told him that we cannot fish from the sidewalk. There is no "no fishing" sign. Does the Pier 7 sidewalk belong to Hawaiian Electric? The guard said we could fish from the side, but not from the sidewalk.
Answer: It took a while to get the definitive answer because it initially was unclear where you were fishing from.
Fishing is allowed from Pier 7, but you were not at Pier 7. The entire sidewalk area, bordered by bulkhead walls, is off-limits to fishing, whether there are signs saying so or not.
There are signs saying "no fishing" on a metal platform (not accessible) beyond and below the bulkhead wall, in the area between Aloha Tower Marketplace and the now-shuttered Hawaii Maritime Center.
You said you were in the area between the center and parking lot, where there are no signs, but where fishing is nonetheless prohibited.
The state Department of Transportation explained that at Honolulu Harbor, fishing is permitted only from Piers 5, 6 and 7, with some restrictions around vessels and ship operation areas.
But the sidewalk along Aloha Tower Drive is not part of the piers.
Piers are the structures where boats are docked that extend out into the harbor. Pier 7 is at the end of the maritime center building, Pier 6 is at the Ewa end of the parking lot and Pier 5 is on the Diamond Head side of the lot.
Under the DOT’s Hawaii Administrative Rules, Section 19-42-137, fishing is prohibited from all other piers, wharves and bulkhead walls in Kewalo Basin and Honolulu Harbor, and all piers and wharves in Barbers Point Harbor.
Casting fishing lines beyond the shallow marginal reef and into the boat channel also is prohibited from the Waikiki side of the Kewalo Basin entrance channel, while fishing with nets is prohibited in the basin and channel areas of Kewalo Basin, Barbers Point Harbor and Honolulu Harbor.
Again, the exception is at Piers 5, 6 and 7. Hand-held scoop nets also can be used for landing hooked fish at those three piers and in the shallow marginal reef on the Waikiki side of the Kewalo Basin entrance channel.
DOT spokeswoman Caroline Sluyter noted that the state Department of Land and Natural Resources stipulates that "it is unlawful to take fish by means of any draw, drag or seine net" in Honolulu Harbor.
However, commercial marine licensees with a bait license may take baitfish during periods scheduled by the harbor master.
Go to www.state.hi.us/dlnr/dar/regulated_areas_ oahu.html#honolulu_harbor for information on the regulated fishing areas on Oahu.
Security Guards
Meanwhile, the security guard could very well have been a HECO employee, because security staff periodically check the power plant seawater intake area, which is makai of the plant, said spokesman Peter Rosegg.
(Seawater is used for cooling. The power plant, in the process of being deactivated, is not generating electricity, Rosegg said, but is still being maintained against any future emergency need.)
If HECO security observes someone fishing, he or she may inform that person that fishing is prohibited from the sidewalk, he said.
The DOT does not have security guards specifically assigned to Pier 7, Sluyter said, although the Harbors Division does have a contract security guard at Pier 8 addressing access and pedestrian safety.
The DOT’s harbor police also patrol the area routinely.
Mahalo
To the gentleman who works at the parking lot at McDonald’s on Beretania and Young streets, who guided us through the lot to the entrance, as we walked slowly due to my husband’s need for a cane. He even held the door open for us. Given that this was at noon on a busy day, he did a great job! — Marilyn Kennedy
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