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Keaukaha residents present data showing cruise-ship visits overwhelm Hilo shoreline; call for community-driven visitation model
Summary
A Keaukaha stewardship pilot presented data showing heavy spikes in commercial tour and cruise-ship visitors that community members say displace residents from local beaches. Presenters recommended a community-designed visitation model, visitor fees tied to local benefit, and expanded engagement with tour operators and state tourism bodies.
Members of the Keaukaha community presented a stewardship pilot to the county committee that documents heavy commercial-tour and cruise-ship impacts at multiple Hilo shoreline parks and recommends a community-led visitation model.
Aina Aloha Iowane, executive director of the Kelly E. William Ewanee Legacy Foundation, described a several-year community effort to inventory park usage and cultural practices and to reconstitute local kapu and kanawai (traditional protections and management tools). Iowane said volunteers and partners collected regular counts at Waiuli (Waioli), Kealoha Pāka, Onekahakaha and Lehia Beach Park and added that commercial-tour vehicle counts spike sharply…
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