Meanwhile, the Department of Land and Natural Resources is asking to "temporarily cease the issuance of any further commercial recreational activity permits at Makua Beach" as it tries to sort out the competing interests.

The flashpoint for this latest conflict is a small kayaking operation on the Wai'anae Coast.

Last July, in a trial to test the commercial possibilities on Makua Beach, the state issued a one-year permit to tour company Makua Lani to take visitors on kayaks that would launch from the beach, as opposed to nearby harbors.

While tour operators say the point of the tours is not necessarily to come close to dolphins, they do acknowledge the animals are in the area. For example, according to the group's Web site: "The area is frequented by dolphins and sea turtles, so it is very likely you will be able to experience their love and joy."

Kevin Bright of Makua Lani, center, has his hands full with two tourists from Japan before a kayak tour of Makua Beach Park. Jeff Widener • The Honolulu Advertiser

Even from the beginning, reaction to the operation from the Wai'anae community, which includes the state's largest Hawaiian population, was mixed. Some welcomed the employment possibilities Makua Lani offered the economically depressed area.

According to Makua Lani executive director Richard Holland, the small kayaking business, which markets $148 ocean tours to Japanese visitors, employed dozens of local residents during the year and paid in excess of $200,000 in wages.

And Malama Pauhi, 28, musician and cultural advisor to Makua Lani, said the company employs mostly younger Hawaiian males in their 20s who not only earn an income — often for the first time — but expand their knowledge of their own culture while interacting with people from a different culture.

Kaipo Alfeche, 27, one of the men who earned from $8 to $13 an hour working for Makua Lani, said he received a letter from a Japanese woman who said the kayaking tour was the most meaningful experience of her life.

However, local opinion seemed to shift away from Makua Lani after long-time area fishers said the kayaking activity negatively affected the traditional fishing grounds their families had fished for generations. In particular, they claimed catches of akule dropped dramatically after the kayaks took to the water.

Others in the community insisted that it was a mistake to open up the pristine area, which is sacred to Hawaiians, to commercial interests.

"This experiment has been tried," said resident William Aila, who a year ago spoke in favor of issuing the trial permit. "Everyone has done their best. But it's not working."

Jo Jordan, who chairs the parks and recreation committee for the Wai'anae Coast Neighborhood Board, said Makua Lani represented the lock on the floodgate that could transform the coast's pristine wilderness into the Waikiki of the West.

"If we allow Mr. Holland to kayak, we have to allow Mr. Smith to rent sand chairs, and Mr. Jones to rent surfboards, and the other guy to bring in his lunchwagon," Jordan said.

"I do believe that there should be some places that just don't have any type of permitted concessions. We should leave some areas natural. Makua is one prime example."

Vocal views were expressed at a Board of Land and Natural Resources meeting last week that lasted five hours. The meeting was to consider the state's recommendation to cease further permits and to not renew Makua Lani's permit.

Board member Kathryn Whang Inouye, who voted against the state's recommendation to ban permits, reminded those opposed to Makua Lani that Wai'anae has a huge unemployment problem that needs to be addressed.

"I just don't think we have enough data to even make a decision," she said.

But board member Timothy Johns said the permit should not have been issued in the first place, precisely because the board had too little information on which to base the decision.

"I don't think the resources (at Makua) should bear the risk of our uncertainty," he said.

The DLNR recommendation to ban new permits will be up for a vote again at the board's next public hearing in two weeks.

Until then, some lament the community rancor the issue has unleashed. After the meeting, Bobby Fernandez stood outside the board room and tried to make sense of it all.

Fernandez, 28, who has lived in Makaha most of his life and now works full-time for Makua Lani, said he has paddled canoes with some of his neighbors who now want the company he works for to go out of business.

"It's too bad everyone has to be grumbling about it," said Fernandez, as he held his 11-month-old son, Braydon, in his arms. "We've all lived together in this place for so long. I can't take sides."