An agreement between Honolulu and UH for the continuation of a multi-faceted program at Hanauma Bay is before the council.

The resolution shows the budget for next fiscal year, which starts July 1, will inch up from $448,230 this year to $462,310. Here’s a closer look at funding in previous years and what’s projected. The money pays for five positions who manage everything from educational programs to volunteer coordination and a visitor center. 

The university’s Sea Grant program administers the self-funded operation at the nature preserve. Under an ordinance created decades ago, the money collected from non-resident entrance fees and parking stays there, according to Bruce Hamakawa and Darren Okimoto who oversee the project.

Okimoto said the program is considered “a wonderful success story.”

Indeed, scientists and others from around the world have come to see how the bay went from being “overloved to death” in the 1980s to sustainably managed today. There was a time when 3 million visitors headed there annually, with buses dumping some 5,000 people a day on the 2.5-acre beach. Now it’s down to about 800,000 visitors per year with limited hours of access and a mandatory orientation program.

Photo by Christopher Chan