Oahu's Hanauma Bay is what economists consider a scarce, open-access resource, vulnerable to overuse. A survey of park users about nonresident fees was conducted. The effects of fees on reducing park use are discussed

Cox, Linda J.

Vieth, Gary R.

ScholarSpace at University of Hawai'i at Manoa

Cooperative Extension Service Resource ManagementJuly 2001RM-11Published by the College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources (CTAHR) and issued in furtherance of Cooperative Extension work, Acts of May 8 and June30, 1914, in cooperation with the U.S. Department of Agriculture. Andrew G. Hashimoto, Director/Dean, Cooperative Extension Service/CTAHR, Universityof Hawaii at Manoa, Honolulu, Hawaii 96822. An Equal Opportunity / Affirmative Action Institution providing programs and services to the people of Hawaii withoutregard to race, sex, age, religion, color, national origin, ancestry, disability, marital status, arrest and court record, sexual orientation, or veteran status.CTAHR publications can be found on the Web site <http://www2.ctahr.hawaii.edu> or ordered by calling 808-956-7046 or sending e-mail to ctahrpub@hawaii.edu.Hanauma Bay, with its adjoining beach park, is oneof Hawaii’s most popular recreation areas. BishopEstate deeded the beach park to the City and County ofHonolulu in 1928 for the use and enjoyment of all. Thearea is now part of the larger Koko Head Regional Park.The bay is controlled by the state and became a MarineLife Conservation District in 1967 and an Under WaterState Park in 1970. The area was renamed the HanaumaBay Nature Preserve in 1992 to remind users that thearea is a marine reserve (see Gardner 1999, under Lit-erature cited). Thus the city manages the land area forrecreation, while the state manages the bay as a marinearea and an underwater park.The problemHanauma Bay is what economists call a scarce, open-access resource. This type of resource is overused be-cause it is hard to fairly allocate it among all users. Dailyuse of Hanauma Bay increased from 1370 users in 1975to 6808 users in 1999. Wilson, Okamoto, and Associ-ates, Inc., in the 1992 Hanauma Bay Nature Park Mas-ter Plan, reported that 68 percent of the users interviewedin 1975 were Hawaii residents; by 1990, only 13 per-cent of the users were residents. This means that use byHawaii residents has remained constant at about 1,000people per day. The 1977 Hanauma Bay Beach Park SiteDevelopment Plan estimated the recommended optimaluse level or “capacity” at 1363 people per day using theBureau of Outdoor Recreation and U.S. Corps of Engi-neers’ beach capacity standards. However, some expertsargue that “capacity” can be increased by investment ineducational activities and physical improvements.Overuse occurs when actual use exceeds the capac-ity level. As shown in Figure 1, the actual use ofHanauma Bay has increased from about capacity in 1975to about five times capacity in 1999. Overuse of a re-source will damage it and decrease its value in the fu-ture. Use issues include near-shore murky water, sun-screen in the water, litter, increased nutrients in water,Sustainable Use Management of Hanauma BayGary R. Vieth and Linda J. Cox, Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Managementunhealthy and aggressive reef fish, and, most impor-tantly, loss of much of the near-shore coral reef.Hanauma Bay use managementInterest in managing the use of Hanauma Bay started whenover 10,000 people per day—over seven times capacity—visited in 1984 and again in 1987. Managing a resourceto reduce over-use is done by decreasing the use leveland/or by increasing the capacity. Keeping the area anopen-access resource for Hawaii residents has alwaysbeen a high priority. Therefore, use limits have focusedon reducing nonresident use to 363 people per day.The City and County of Honolulu’s Department ofParks and Recreation (DPR) implemented the HanaumaBay General Plan in June of 1990 after voluntary usereduction did not get the desired results. The Plan calledfor restricting access, educating users, and improvingfacilities. Use decreased slightly for a short time, thenstarted to increase again. The impacts of DPR’s specificmeasures to increase capacity are not known. Either themeasures have not yet been implemented or their ef-fects have not been evaluated.In May of 1995 the City and County of HonoluluCouncil passed Ordinance No. 95-36 to charge nonresi-dent users. However, some thought the fee was a newFigure 1. Hanauma Bay capacity and use.01,0002,0003,0004,0005,0006,0007,0001975 1999Nonresident useResident useCapacityPeople per dayRM-11 Sustainable Use Management of Hanauma Bay CTAHR — July 20012tax because the excess revenue was going into the gen-eral fund. The city cannot legally have a new tax with-out getting authority from the state, and the fee wasdropped. A new 1997 user fee calls for the deposit of allfees into the Hanauma Bay Park upkeep fund, with anyexcess being used for the Koko Head Regional Park.A user fee appears to be the most promising solu-tion to Hanauma Bay overuse. The level of the fee isstill in question. At the same time, the use of excess fundsfor Koko Head Regional Park rather than for HanaumaBay only may remain an issue.Effect of a nonresident user feeStudents in a University of Hawaii at Manoa class* asked43 U.S. mainland residents who visited Hanauma Bayhow much they would be willing to pay for the visit.While the sample is small, it can be used to show thevalue of such information. If all nonresidents are simi-lar to those in the sample, user fees would have to in-crease to around $25.00 per person to reduce nonresi-dent use to 363 people per day. Another survey foundthat it would take fees between $30 and $40 to discour-age people from using the bay (Gardner 1999, p. 85).The relationship between a nonresident user fee andHanauma Bay use is shown in Figure 2. Total use de-clines as the nonresident fee increases.Use estimates, from Figure 2, are multiplied timesthe fee to obtain the revenues reported in the followingdiscussion. At any user fee between $3.00 and $25.00,total user fees collected will be larger than the upkeepexpenses of $1.2 million per year (Mak and Moncur1998). At $3.00, the user fee would generate $5.4 mil-lion per year in revenues. A $25.00 fee would generaterevenues of $3.4 million. A user fee of $10.00 wouldgenerate the maximum yearly revenue of $9.2 million.ConclusionsNonresident user fees, if they are high enough, can beused to reduce the actual use of Hanauma Bay to capac-ity. However, the equity of not charging Hawaii resi-dents needs to be addressed. The effects of reducingnonresident use on the tourist industry must also be takeninto account, since Hanauma Bay is second only toWaikiki as Hawaii’s most-used beach.Reducing Hanauma Bay use to capacity without hav-ing major adverse impacts on either residents or nonresi-dents may be the preferred management goal. HanaumaBay is popular because there are no alternatives nearWaikiki. Possibly, the revenues from a Hanauma Bay feecould be used to develop an underwater park near Waikiki.The new underwater park could perhaps provide marine-based recreation to all users for a fee.The legal issues of using excess Hanauma Bay feesfor the new park, rather than the Koko Head DistrictPark, would have to be resolved. A management planthat jointly considers fees and use for Hanauma Bay anda new underwater park would also be needed. The cityand the state must reach agreement on an overall man-agement plan because underwater parks on Oahu requirewaterfront access.Literature citedGardner, Emily A. 1999. Can user fees be used to save HanaumaBay? Ocean and Coastal Law Journal 4(8): 81–111.Mak, James, and James E.T. Moncur. 1998. Political economyof protecting unique recreational resources: Hanauma Bay,Hawaii. Ambio 27(3): 217–223.*Thanks to UH-M students Eduardo DeGuzman, Eric PaulFoltz, Robyn Taira, and Debbie Yousef for doing the inter-views during Fall, 2000.05001,0001,5002,0002,5003,0003,5004,0004,5005,0005,5006,0006,5007,0000 2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20 22 24 26Total useNonresident use Resident use  CapacityPeople per dayNonresident user fee ($ per person per day)Figure 2. Hanauma Bay use with user fee and capacity.

Sustainable Use Management of Hanauma Bay

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Sustainable Use Management of Hanauma Bay

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