Let's Surf Coalition:

Now that we were able to help the City follow its rules regarding the issuance of surf permits, we must continue to work with the City, contest promoters, resident surfers, affected home owners and Haleiwa merchants to establish a new set of rules.  We want to ensure equitable use of our precious beaches and surf spots.

Here are the issues we support:

• There must never be more than 16 days of competition per beach per year.
• There must never be more than 50 days of competition on the North Shore per year.
  
• There must never be simultaneous events.
• Cooling Off Periods at each beach should be a minimum of 14 days.
• A minimum number of contestants should be processed for each day of the permit. A contest with 64 surfers can be completed in two days and 128 surfers can be processed in four days. Processing 64 people in four days is inefficient and unnecesary. The four-competitor-per-heat requirement helps to move the contests along.
• When a conflict arises between two permit applications, preference should be given to the contest that includes the greater number of Hawaii residents.
• Amateur events have to be protected, especially if economic impact will play a larger role in permit prioritization.
• The economic impact of surf contests needs to be studied. How much money do surf contests actually contibute to our community? Is this contribution significant when compared to money generated by visiting recreational surfers? Is it significant enough to justify excluding the public?
• Competition hours should be between 8 am and 4 pm, so that the public has a chance to surf at the beginning or end of every day.

at the STATE level:

January 14, 2003:  The concern of the DLNR's lack of policy on water use permits was presented to Governor Lingle in a meeting with Native Hawaiians.  Otherwise, nothing has happened regarding SCR-85.  The state may be waiting to see what happens with the City's new rules.

August 5, 2002:  House Majority Leader Rep. Marcus Oshiro, a major supporter of SCR-85, will be speaking with Gil Agaran-Coloma, the Director of the Department of Land and Natural Resources, later this week to see if they can get the ball rolling sooner.

July 24, 2002:  The DLNR recently assigned Dave Parsons to follow up on SCR-85.  This happened after a call from Let's Surf Coalition found out that nobody was working on it at all!  Mr. Parsons cited many high priorities and said that there would be no changes in the state permit policy this year as there is not enough time.  He will inform us of the schedule when it is developed. We will steadfastly follow up.

April 26, 2002:  Both Houses of the State Legislature passed SCR-85 , the Senate Concurrrent Resolution that matched HCR-87.  While this resolution lacks teeth, it is a start in the right direction.  Let's Surf Coalition will actively follow up with the DLNR to help establich fair guidelines at the state agency responsible for granting ocean permits.

More Legislative Activity

at the CITY level:

On December 3, 2002, the Department of Parks and Recreation finally released the schedule of permitted surf contests for the North Shore winter of 2002-2003.  Until now, permits were issued just in time for the start of each event as the scheduling conflicts kept the balance of the schedule up in the air.

Manny Menendez, Director of the Department of Economic Development, is now in charge of developing the new rules to govern surf contests. Mr. Menendez is committed to establishing the new set of rules in time for the promoters to get an early start on planning next year's events.

In Summary:

Let's Surf Coalition filed registration papers on January 28, 2002.  We believe that several of the existing and proposed rules are unfair to the public.  Rather than throw up our hands and complain, we decided that we should get busy and become proactive with the city and state agencies to come to a fair and balanced plan for usage of the beaches and near shore waters.

We have been testifying at the legislature, staying in touch with the decision makers, monitoring the news and getting letters-to-the-editor published on our cause.  Public awareness is essential!  Who can deny that the beaches and near shore waters belong to the public?

Let's Surf Coalition is growing and seeking new Supporters.  Every new Supporter makes our coalition stronger and more representative.  Until now, the public has not been well organized and has not been able to adequately defend its rights regarding these issues.  If you have not already done so, please Become a Supporter today.