Latest boat grounding raises the question: What can be done to protect Honolua Bay?

When the owners of a grounded luxury yacht were fined $1.8 million for damaging a critical reef near Honolua Bay in February 2023, state officials and community members hoped it would send a message.

But two years later, another large commercial vessel washed up on the rocks in Honolua Bay, this time a 65-foot Hula Girl catamaran.

“Apparently we weren’t paying good enough attention, because why would this happen again?” said Maui County Council Member Tamara Paltin, who holds the West Maui seat. “Was the accountability that was levied on that other company not good enough? We didn’t learn how precious and special this place is to us?”

This second major grounding in two years has raised questions about what can be done to protect the bay, which is part of the Honolua-Mokulē‘ia Marine Life Conservation District. These districts are designed to conserve and replenish marine resources in critical nearshore habitats. Taking any type of living material in these districts is generally restricted, if permitted at all. The state says this encourages non-consumptive activities like swimming, snorkeling and diving.

Both groundings started when the boats broke off their moorings. In conservation districts, the mooring rules are the same as anywhere else: first come, first served, with a two-hour limit, according to the Department of Land and Natural Resources that oversees these districts and all of the state’s coastal waters.

Since the 2023 grounding, the department’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation says it hasn’t made any changes to its rules on mooring or activities in Honolua Bay, and it’s limited in what it can do because federal law prevents it from restricting vessels navigating the ocean. That means it can’t bar commercial activity in Honolua Bay, the state said.

The department’s inability to restrict operators who have federal licenses to navigate in state waters goes back to a decision in the Young v. Coloma-Agaran case more than two decades ago.

In 1999, the department tried to prohibit commercial boat tours in Hanalei Bay on the north coast of Kaua’i after “years of turmoil” over tourist activities. Three commercial boat tour operators filed a lawsuit when their licenses expired in 2000, and the courts ruled that the state’s actions infringed on the boaters’ federal licenses “to engage in coastwise trade in the navigable waters of the United States, which include Hanalei Bay.”

That hasn’t stopped state lawmakers from trying to rein in activities in Hanalei Bay, with two proposed bills in the current legislative session calling for prohibiting boats larger than 75 feet in the bay. Paltin had wanted Honolua Bay to be included in the legislation but was told it was specifically geared toward Hanalei Bay. She hopes state lawmakers can push for changes on Maui during the next session, because the county doesn’t have jurisdiction over coastal activities.

Paltin, who served as president of the Save Honolua Coalition until 2023, said advocates have been asking for a rulemaking process for the bay since the early 2000s when they stopped a planned development of a golf course and 40 luxury homes overlooking the bay. She said they were told Honolua Bay would have to wait until the state could finish making the rules for Molokini, another marine life conservation district that recently underwent rule changes that took effect last year.

Honolua Bay is home to some of the highest coral coverage on Maui, and the popular snorkeling and surfing spot is generally protected from tradewinds, which is what makes it “the jewel of the west side,” said Paltin, a former Maui County lifeguard. But, she said, during a Kona storm, it’s not a good place to seek shelter because the winds will “blow you right into shore.” 

The Hula Girl catamaran had tried to seek shelter from the storm on the night of Jan. 30 when it broke free of its moorings in Honolua Bay and ran aground, according to the state and the Coast Guard. The four crew members safely disembarked and were assisted by the Maui Fire Department.

Paltin hopes updated rules could lay out restrictions such as closing Honolua Bay during Kona storms, pointing out that there are safer and sandier places to take shelter in West Maui. She also liked the idea of limiting the size of vessels similar to the measures proposed for Hanalei Bay, and she suggested pulling permits for companies that put the environment at risk. 

“This is such a treasured resource, not only in the community, in the visitor industry, in the commercial community, that if you do something that jeopardize the ecology over there, I don’t think you should get a second chance to do that,” Paltin said. 

The boat was among three that grounded in Maui County during the recent storm, including a power boat near Kamaʻole Beach Park One in Kīhei and a 28-foot trimaran at Kaunakakai Harbor. But the Hula Girl catamaran’s grounding in a sensitive location after the high-profile grounding of a luxury yacht is part of what put it in the public spotlight.

In February 2023, the 94-foot yacht “Nakoa” broke free of its moorings and drifted onto the rocky shoreline outside of the Honolua-Mokulē‘ia Marine Life Conservation District. When the salvage company pulled the yacht off the rocks and out to sea, the damaged vessel eventually sank in about 800 feet of water. 

The grounding impacted more than 20,000 square feet of hard bottom nearshore habitat, with 119 live coral colonies heavily damaged or destroyed. The state planned to fine the owners $117,000 but later increased the fine to $1.8 million after testifiers pushed the state for a stronger punishment for the cultural and biological damages. The owners also eventually paid the state back the $460,000 it cost to remove the vessel from the shoreline.

Since the grounding this year, Kapalua Kai Sailing, the owner of the Hula Girl catamaran, has been “fully cooperating” with the state and providing daily updates on efforts to remove the vessel, the department said. It noted that the owner is having trouble finding a salvage company because a number of companies are either unavailable or unwilling to take on the project. But, the state said, this is more likely due to “limited capacity” than the fact that it took nearly two weeks and multiple trips between O’ahu and Maui by a salvage company to remove the luxury yacht in 2023.

A department spokesperson said a salvage plan has not yet been presented to the state for review.

Peter Wood, the catamaran’s owner, declined to comment Tuesday beyond saying that the company is “doing the best we can” and working with federal and state officials. Wood told HJI partners Maui Now last week that fuel was being drained from the vessel as a precaution. 

When asked if he thought the struggle to find a salvage company was related to the effort it took in 2023, he said this situation had “nothing to do with the last time.”

Whether the two groundings will lead to any changes remains to be seen. The outcome of the removal of the Hula Girl catamaran, and any damage caused by the grounding, could potentially be a factor in the public and political willpower to push for any new rules.

The state Division of Aquatic Resources conducted a preliminary assessment of the damage to the reef after the Hula Girl grounded and reported no obvious damage, though water conditions limited visibility. Divers plan to return to the site after the boat is removed to do a full damage assessment. The state will then determine whether fines are needed.

The Hula Girl’s grounding was in a different location in the bay than that of the Nakoa, so the state said it won’t affect the ongoing efforts of scientists at the Maui Ocean Center Marine Institute, who have been working to rehabilitate corals damaged in the 2023 grounding and return them to the bay.

*NOTE: This story contains a correction stating that a salvage plan has not yet been presented to the state for review. A previous version of the story reported that a plan had been approved based on information provided by the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.