Waikīkī

Oʿahu Fisheries, Waikīkī Section (1909) 

Materials for July 14, 2023 Informational Briefing to the Board of Land and Natural Resource (BLNR)

          Related

Previous Conservation District Use Permits for Waikīkī

  • 1973: CDUP 0450 for “Beach restoration work” by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  Location: Kapahulu Storm Drain to Elks Club
  • 1973: CDUP 0467 for “Extension of ʿEwa groin, redistribution of sand” by the Division of Land Management & Harbors Division.  Location:   Kūhiō Beach
  • 1974: CDUP 0530 for “Shore protection and restoration” by the Division of Land Management & Harbors Division.  Location:   Kūhiō Beach
  • 1978: CDUP 1073  for “Government facility use” (storm drain) by the US Army Corps of Engineers.  Location:   Fort DeRussy
  • 1983: CDUP 1477 for “Kalia Road relief drain project” by the C&C Department of Public Works.  Location:   Kalia Road
  • 2013: CDUP 2013 for “Repair of seawall” by the C&C Department of Parks and Recreation.  Location:   Queen Kapiʿolani Park
  • 1997: CDUP 2794 for “Hilton Lagoon project” by the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  Location:   Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon
  • 1998: CDUP 2874 for “Construction of two groins” by the C&C Building Department.  Location:   Natatorium
  • 1999: CDUP 2929 for “Kuhio Beach Improvements” by the Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation. Location: Kuhio Beach.
  • 2006: CDUP 3297 for “Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon restoration project” by the Hilton Hawaiian Village.  Location:   Duke Kahanamoku Lagoon
  • 2010: CDUP 3558 for “Waikiki Beach Maintenance Project” by the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.  Location:     Waikīkī Beach
  • 2017: CDUP 3784 for “Royal Hawaiian Groin improvement project” by the Department of Land and Natural Resources.  Location:   Royal Hawaiian Groin
  • 2019: Small Scale Beach Nourishment (SSBN) OA-19-04 for “Kūhiō Beach stub groin and sand backpassing” by the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands.  Location: Kūhiō Beach.
  • 2021: CDUP 3867 for “Waikiki seawall mitigative improvement project” by the C&C Department of Design and Construction.  Location:   Queen’s Surf Beach

2021 Waikīkī Beach Improvement and Maintenance Program

The State Department of Land and Natural Resources is proposing beach improvement and maintenance projects for the Fort DeRussy, Halekūlani , Royal Hawaiian, and Kūhiō  Beach sectors of Waikīkī. The project will include the construction of new beach stabilization structures, the recovery of off-shore sand, and its placement on the shoreline.  The objectives of the proposed actions are to restore and improve Waikīkī’s public beaches, to increase beach stability through the improvement and maintenance of shoreline structures, and to increase resilience to coastal hazards and sea level rise. 

The draft Environmental Impact Statement (dEIS) for the program was published on June 8, 2021.   

A public scoping meeting on the EISPN was held on Thursday, January 7.  

The presentation is available to download.

2021 Waikīkī Beach Maintenance Project 

Immediately following nourishment in May 2021 the beach had been widened by an average of 29.7 feet, and there was an area increase of approximately 52,000 square feet of dry beach.  Subsequent surveys shows a reduction in overall beach width in the fall and winter, and an increase in the spring.   Sand in this area also shifts seasonally, as is the case on many Hawaiian beaches.  The western end tends to gain more in the summer months, while the eastern end decreases.  In the winter the distribution is reversed.  

Surveys in April 2022, one year after the completion of the project, showed that the dry beach had been widened by an average of 37.1 feet, with an area increase of approximately 65,000 square feet of dry beach. 

 

The 2016 Paper: The influence of seasonal patterns on a beach nourishment project in a complex reef environment

 

 

2021 Waikīkī Beach Maintenance Project

The Waikīkī Beach Special Improvement District Association (WBSIDA). in close partnership with the Department of Land and Natural Resources (DLNR), conducted a beach maintenance project for the Royal Hawaiian to Surfrider Moana beach area.  The goal of the Waikiki Beach Maintenance Phase II project was to restore and maintain the public beach between the Kuhio Beach Ewa Groin and the Royal Hawaiian Groin.  The project includes hydraulic dredging and pumping up to 20,000 cubic yards of marine sand from offshore Waikīkī as a follow up to the 2012 project which brought in 24,000 cubic yards to Waikīkī Beach.  The project started on January 26, and stockpiled 20,000 cubic yards of offshore sand, retrieved from shallow water about 1000-feet offshore.   The project was completed in  May 2021.

Project flyer

Frequently asked questions

Waikīkī Beach Restoration

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)