Honolulu’s rules governing shore water events like surf contests, canoe regattas, triathlons and swim races, and the permits required to legally hold them, have undergone changes.

After months of community outreach, the city Department of Parks and Recreation says it’s published the revised Shore Water Event Rules, which affect Oahu’s surf season — on both the North and South shores — and the permits, regularly issued to event organizers which have deadlines for submission.

The rules were formally adopted in December.

To view the city’s new Shore Water Event Rules, visit bit.ly/shorewaterrules.

And to assist with an upcoming permit deadline, DPR posted several documents online at honolulu.gov, including instructions for North Shore surf event applications as well as a related park use permit application.

That includes North Shore surf event applications for contests during the next triennial period — from January 2025 to May 2027 — which the city says are due at the end of this month.

Applications must be received by 4 p.m. Jan. 31 at DPR’s permits office, Frank Fasi Municipal Building, 650 S. King St., on the first floor.

Updates to these rules had not occurred for several years.

“To the best of our knowledge, the first semblance of Shore Water Rules were discussed in 1991,” DPR spokesperson Nate Serota told the Honolulu Star- Advertiser. “The most recent revisions were in 2015 and 2018 prior to the current rules.”

He added that revising the old rules began at the urging of the Honolulu City Council, formalized via a 2020 resolution introduced by former Council member Heidi Tsuneyoshi.

“This resolution called for new rules for ensuring gender equity within the permitting of all competitive surfing events on Oahu’s North Shore,” Serota said, adding that the city also wished “to improve management of our environmental and recreational resources, with an emphasis on keeping our parks as open and available to the public as possible.”

He said updates will cover surf spots around urban Hono­lulu, too.

“While we had permitting guidelines for shore water events on the South Shore, this is the first time we have comprehensive rules covering these kinds of events for this side of the island,” Serota said.

According to the new rules, applications for shoreline events will be ranked, mainly on how well submitted event plans improve diversity as well as mitigate community impacts including crowd sizes and traffic.

“The highest ranked application will be allotted their first choice of location and time. Remaining slots will be offered to applicants in order of their ranking,” the new application states.

To that end, applicants’ plans “should consider the size of the crowd drawn to their event, and propose to mitigate the impacts of that crowd size,” the application states. And each applicant’s plan will be ranked based on “their effectiveness of mitigating the impacts of the crowd size that their proposed event will draw.”

“Accordingly, a traffic and parking plan for an event that draws a small crowd may receive the same number of ranked points as the traffic plan for an event that draws a large crowd, even though the number of off-duty officers in the two plans are different,” the application states. “The ranking will be based on how well the plan proposes to mitigate the impact of the crowd size it will draw and historically has drawn.”

Primarily, Serota said, the latest rule revisions promote greater diversity in local ocean sports.

“We are hoping for better diversity in the types of events organized, and equity for the various participants — particularly as it relates to gender,” he said, “while keeping park facilities available and mitigating the impacts of these events on the surrounding community.”

The city’s efforts to implement rule changes to shore water activities at city parks — often popular sites, heavily trafficked by beachgoers — has been going on for some time.

In 2019 the city considered setting limits for surfing contests on the South Shore.

That October, the Star- Advertiser reported that the process would be similar to the one used in the late 1990s to set limits on North Shore contests.

Rule changes then limited North Shore contests to 16 per site and required contests to begin at 8 a.m. and end at 4 p.m.

To do so meant allowing local surfers continued access to surf spots.

During surf contests, only contestants are allowed to surf.

Having a cap on the total number of events held on Oahu’s South Shore — in and around the Waikiki surf breaks — was part of the rules’ consideration.

Ultimately, the Shore Water Advisory Group, or SWAG, was formed in July 2021.

“SWAG was formed to facilitate revisions, public participation and implementation of the rules governing shore water events for city parks across Oahu,” Serota said.

The advisory group — which has since dissolved — included surf shop owner Keone Downing, businessperson and community activist Kanani Oury and Meghan Statts, who represented the state Department of Land and Natural Resources’ Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation, or DOBOR.

According to Serota, the city’s rules on shore water events were designed “to work in tangent with ocean permitting and usage guidelines” facilitated by DOBOR.

SWAG — an all-volunteer panel — held a total of six meetings, with the last one adjourning in May 2022.

Among that group’s former members, Downing previously told the Star- Advertiser that he’d like to see greater public input when it comes “to the use of our public resources.”

“The communities which are impacted by these commercial endeavors should be the ones to address their areas,” Downing said. “In other words, I can talk about Waikiki but I shouldn’t be talking about Makaha, because the people of Makaha should be talking about the resources they use out there.”

For further information, call DPR at 808-768-3440.