By Jan TenBruggencate
Advertiser KauaÎi Bureau
LIHU‘E, Kaua‘i — Hanalei tour boat companies that were put out of business by a U.S. District Court ruling last week will file an appeal to the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals today and will seek an injunction that will allow them to keep operating, said Honolulu attorney Jack Schweigert.
Schweigert represents Robert Butler, who operates a sailing catamaran under the name Captain Sundown. Two other boating companies — Hanalei Sport Fishing and Tours, and Whitey’s Boat Cruises — will join in the appeal, he said.
Federal Judge Helen Gillmor last week rejected a challenge of a state ban on boating in Hanalei when she ruled that the state did not violate the due-process provisions of the U.S. Constitution when it developed its new administrative rules for the Hanalei waters.
The state’s rules ban all motorized commercial boat traffic in the Hanalei River and its estuary and in Hanalei Bay. Nonmotorized boating activities, including commercial kayak operations, have been allowed to continue under the state’s management program.
While a number of boat companies once operated out of the area without permits, the three firms that are appealing had permits issued by the state and the county.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources announced this week that it would enforce its boating ban as a result of Gillmor’s ruling.
[back to top] |
