A $5 million plan to restore a West Hawaii harbor is underway at the state Department of Land and Natural Resources.
Last week, a draft environmental assessment was released detailing a plan by DLNR’s Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation to make improvements to the North Kawaihae Small Boat Harbor, particularly its aging breakwater.
According to the assessment, the small boat harbor — located on the north end of the Kawaihae Deep Draft Harbor — is shielded by both its own smaller 390-foot breakwater and the main harbor’s larger breakwater. During a storm at the end of 2019, large waves broke a 40-foot breach in the smaller breakwater and damaged the nearby wharf.
DOBOR Engineering Branch Manager Finn McCall said that despite the damage, the small boat harbor is frequently used by fishermen and canoe clubs. However, he added that while parts of the wharf were subsequently repaired, winter swells still regularly crest over the seawall, which could easily heavily damage or destroy any vessels berthed there.
“Back in the ’50s when it was built, sea level rise wasn’t the problem it is now,” McCall said. “And the storms are just more severe now with climate change.”
The draft EA proposes repairing the breach in the seawall and raising its height from six to 10 feet. Rejected alternative plans found that increasing its height much more would break line-of-sight between boats and the harbor, which raised safety concerns.
McCall said stones and boulders from the collapsed section of the breakwater will be retrieved and restacked, while other stones will be brought in from elsewhere on the island. He said that the design will be largely the same as the current breakwater — a trapezoidal “rubble mound” design, he called it — but will use larger boulders to improve its long-term resistance to heavy waves.
The full construction project could take about nine months to complete, assuming favorable conditions, McCall said.
A start date for the project is not yet determined, he said, explaining the DLNR still needs to get permits in order, but he added that an optimistic timeline could see those permits granted around May 2024.
The estimated cost of the project is roughly $5 million, which McCall said would be paid by the state.