Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands

Since 1985 the Waikīkī shoreline has experienced significant beach loss due to long-term chronic erosion. The State has recognized that given the chronic erosion potential simply importing sand is not a permanent solution. There is a need to develop a program for regular beach maintenance using nearshore sand as a means for periodic beach nourishment. This “recycling” program offers a more efficient method for maintaining a recreational beach while mitigating some of the environmental effects of imported sand to the Waikīkī ecosystem over the past sixty-plus years.

from Hawaii DLNR on Vimeo

Waikīkī Beach Maintenance Final Report (2012)
Royal Hawaiian Beach: Replenishment, Monitoring, and History of Engineering  (Interim Report, Year 1;  June 2013)
Kūhiō Beach Improvements: Summary of Beach History and Engineering Design (Lemmo and Eversole, DLNR, 2005)
Waikīkī: Historical Analysis of an Engineered Shoreline (Miller and Fletcher, Journal of Coastal Research, 2003)
Waikīkī: History of its transformation form a natural to an urban shore (Wiegel, Shore & Beach, 2008)
A Review of Innovative Sediment Delivery Systems (US Army Corps of Engineers, September 2012)

Coastal Data Program

Royal Hawaiian Groin

Kāʻanapali Beach Restoration

Poʻipū Beach Restoration

Pāpōhaku Dunes

OCCL is proposing to change the state land use conservation district subzone of tax map key (TMK): (2) 5-1-006:156 at Pāpōhaku Beach, Kaluakoʻi, Moloka`i from the general subzone to the protective subzone.

Kailua Beach Management Plan

Kailua Beach and Dune Management Plan

Open Ocean Mariculture

State Submerged Lands extend three miles out from the shoreline; mariculture operations in this area require a Conservation District Use Permit (CDUP) and Management Plan approved by the Board of Land and Natural Resources.  OCCL is actively working to develop a consistent set of management, reporting, and permit criteria that can be applied state wide.   The following agencies have current permits for facilities in Hawaiian waters:

Blue Ocean Mariculture  (CDUP HA-3720; Blue Ocean Reporting Plan) – located offshore of Unualoha Point, North Kona, Hawaiʻi. The permit allows for eight pens totaling no more than 72, 000 cubic meters, and the cultivation of kāhala (almaco jack, Seriola rivoliana and amberjack, S. dumerili), mahi mahi (Coryphaena hippurus), ulua (giant trevally, Caranx ignobilis), and moi (Pacific threadfin, Polydactylus sexifilis). The only species currently cultivated in the ocean pens is S. rivoliana. The permit holder anticipates stocking moi in the near future.  (see also CDUP HA 3497)

Māmāla Bay Seafood (CDUP 3719; Māmāla Bay Reporting Plan) – located in the Reef Runway Borrow Pit at Keʻehi Lagoon, Honolulu, Oʻahu, TMK (1) 1-1-003:005. The permit allows for ten semi-submerged cages to raise moi (Pacific threadfin, Polydactylus sexifilis). The permit holder is currently in lease negotiations for the site. 

Hawaiʻi Oceanic Technology (CDUP HA-3495) – located offshore of Mālaʻe Point, North Kohala, Hawaiʻi. The permit allows for the deployment  of twelve 54-meter diameter “oceanspheres” to cultivate ʻahi tuna (yellowfin, Thunnus albacores, and bigeye, T. obesus). The capacity of one sphere is estimated to be 1000 tons of `ahi per year.  The first sphere has not yet been deployed as of January 2015.

A third company, Kona Blue Water Farms, operates outside of the State’s three-mile boundary, in waters under federal jurisdiction.

Astronomy Facilities

OCCL is monitoring the progress of two new astronomical facilities that have recently received permits from the Board of Land and Natural Resources: the Daniel K. Inouye Solar Telescope (DKIST; formerly known as the Advance Technology Solar Telescope, ATST) at the Haleakalā High Observatories Site on Maui, and the Thirty Meter Telescope (TMT) in the Mauna Kea Science Reserve on Hawaiʻi.

Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (January 2009)
TMT Final Environmental Impact Statement (April 26, 2010) (Volume 2, Volume 3)
TMT Conservation District Use Application (CDUA HA-3568, October 2010)
OCCL Staff Report on HA-3568  (February 25, 2011);  Exhibits for HA-3568
TMT Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law and Decision and Order (April 2013)
Pre-construction Mitigation / DLNR Notice to Proceed (March 2015)

2015 Annual Report on the Status of the Mauna Kea Comprehensive Management Plan (April 30, 2015)

TMT Overview on Vimeo.

Haleakalā High Observatory Site Management Plan (June 8, 2010)
ATST Conservation District Use Application (MA-3542, March 2010); Appendix A
ATST Final Environmental Assessment (July 30, 2009) (Vol 2, Vol 3, Vol 4)
OCCL Staff Report on MA-3542 (December 1, 2010); Exhibits for MA-3542
ATST Findings of Fact, Conclusions of Law, Decision and Order (November 2012)