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A bill arising from concerns about surging numbers of visitors to the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District on Oahu’s North Shore will be heard today by the state Senate Ways and Means Committee.
Introduced by Sen. Gil Riviere (D, Heeia-Laie-Waialua), Senate Bill 3330 would require the Department of Land and Natural Resources to conduct a three-year carrying-capacity pilot program for the approximately 100-acre area, which is the size of the Hanauma Bay Marine Life Conservation District and includes Sharks Cove and the 3-acre Kapoo Tidepools; the bill also provides funding.
“The concern is that Sharks Cove and the tidepools are getting loved to death,” Riviere said Tuesday, noting they are among the most heavily visited snorkeling spots on Oahu and that visitor numbers are returning to pre-pandemic highs.
“Sensitive areas like Kapoo Tidepools and Sharks Cove that are relatively shallow get a lot of trampling by people wearing reef shoes,” said Denise Antolini, president of Malama Pupukea Waimea, a proponent of the bill, noting that the tidepools are a rich nursery for more than 50 species of marine life and that negative impacts have increased with more visitors.
“In February 2012 we counted 16 people in the tidepools and 33 people on the beach at a single point in time. This February there were 163 people in the tidepools and 215 on the beach at one point in time,” said Jenny Yagodich, education and outreach director for the nonprofit.
“Social media has really amped up the snorkeling in the tidepools, with literally thousands of feet each day stepping on rocks, coral, algae and animals, and every foot that does that is killing something,” she said, adding that the tidepools contain urchins, sea cucumbers, eels, starfish, urchins, crabs, sea slugs and algae that provides food for fish and turtles.
The goal of the legislation, Riviere said, is to protect the area by “seeing if there is an appropriate level of use, and what management practices and restrictions might be employed.”
The bill references measures limiting visitor numbers that have been put in place at Hanauma Bay following biological carrying-capacity studies by the Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology. They include expanding closure days to two days a week from one, establishing a reservation system, daily visitor quotas, higher fees for nonresidents, and mandatory on-site education.
Although there are rules restricting the taking of marine life from the Pupukea Marine Life Conservation District, there are no rules restricting the number of visitors to the area other than nighttime closures of parking spaces and comfort stations in the adjacent Waimea Bay and Pupukea beach parks.
“The bill would enable a biological carrying-capacity study to determine how many people is too many for the area to thrive,” Yagodich said.
Community-based studies by Malama Pupukea Waimea have found sunscreen residues and traces of coffee and ibuprofen — “things that only come from humans” — in the tidepools, Antolini said, noting pollution also might be running off from nearby showers, restrooms and septic tanks.
Monitoring of human behavior was important as well, Antolini said. “We submitted a photo with our testimony on the bill showing eight snorkelers chasing a turtle.”
Overcrowding by visitors also chases away local residents, she said, diminishing their access to and enjoyment of the shoreline.
The Pupukea resident said, “Neighbors tell us they don’t go there because there are too many tourists,” and that the nonprofit would seek community feedback for a pilot program.
Today’s hearing starts at 10:15 a.m. and can be viewed on the Senate YouTube page. For more info, search for SB 3330 at capitol.hawaii.gov.
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