Splash!

DOBOR Before the Court

The Department of Boating and Ocean Recreation (DOBOR) was brought before Honolulu’s First Circuit Court in a complaint by an Ala Wai Boat Harbor live-aboard boater. The boater alleges that DLNR and BLNR Chair Suzanne Case and DOBOR Administrator Ed Underwood, among others, have improperly raised mooring fees and have refused to disclose secret negotiations with developers to privatize Hawai‘i harbors.

Attorney Erik Rask and his wife have a DOBOR permit to live on his sailboat at Ala Wai Harbor. Erik’s first complaint against DOBOR is what he claims is an improper 2019 DOBOR mooring fee increase. Erik argues that in 2011, with the passage of Legislative Act 197 (H.B. 1566), DOBOR was granted the authority under HRS § 200-10(c)(1) to get a harbor’s appraisal and then annually raise mooring fees at the rate of inflation. HRS § 200-10(c)(1) reads in part: “moorage fees shall be established by appraisal. The moorage fees… may be increased annually by the department, to reflect a cost-of-living index increase.”

DOBOR increased mooring fees in 2011 but waited until 2013