A long-held state policy to ignore grave markers cemented to the rocks along the shoreline of the Wai'anae Coast isn't sitting well in Hawai'i Kai.

Hundreds of such makeshift memorials have been installed from Wai'anae to Nänäkuli, some dating to the 1980s.

When two — complete with fake flowers and American flags — were found on the Ka Iwi Coast near Hawai'i Kai recently, the state Department of Land and Natural Resources told residents who filed complaints that the memorials would be removed.

Soon after, though, the agency reverted to its years old position and said the markers will not be removed, but that the policy to leave them in place is being re-evaluated.

Elizabeth Reilly, Hawai'i Kai Neighborhood Board vice chairwoman and longtime defender of the Ka Iwi Coast, was incensed.

She had complained to state officials about what she called the inappropriateness of the two Ka Iwi markers, which are between Sandy Beach and Wawamalu Beach.

"This can't go on," said Reilly, who contends that the memorials — well-intentioned as they may be — are an affront to the natural shoreline.

"They have to be removed — no ifs, ands or buts," she said.

The memorials not only present a safety hazard — protruding from shoreline tide pool rocks — but they seem to violate state rules that prohibit the installation of monuments and memorials on unencumbered public lands without written permission, she said.

NO REMOVALS YET

Makeshift seaside memorials began to proliferate in shoreline tide pools in the mid-1980s — particularly along the Wai'anae Coast — as a way for people to have a tangible remembrance of a deceased loved one whose ashes had been scattered nearby or who had died at sea.

Unlike temporary roadside memorials, the shoreline monuments are generally brass plaques and etched stones planted in poured concrete.

The policy being re-evaluated is one that says unless such markers pose a safety or health hazard, the department is inclined to respect the sentiments of those who erected the markers in memory of a family member, explained Deborah Ward, spokeswoman for DLNR.

"We're reviewing these matters on a case-by-case basis," said Ward, who added that to date the DLNR has never removed a memorial from the shores along the Wai'anae Coast or anywhere else.

Reilly intends to put the memorials issue on the agenda of the next neighborhood board meeting. She has invited officials from DLNR to attend to discuss how best to resolve the problem.

And by resolve, Reilly made it clear she means removal.

Eliminating tide pool memorials before they spread in East Honolulu would guarantee that O'ahu's shore between Hanauma Bay and Makapu'u Point won't become a platform for scores of hand-fabricated commemoratives, such as those found along the Wai'anae Coast, Reilly said.

ECOLOGICAL DAMAGE

William Ailä, harbor master of the Wai'anae Boat Harbor, overlooks a virtual cemetery of tide-pool tombstones from his office window. There are more than four dozen markers about 60 yards east of the building, and there are markers at other spots down the coast, he said.

"You're not supposed to erect anything on state property without a state permit," Ailä said. He estimated the number of shoreline memorials on the Wai'anae Coast at more than 200 — a number he described as "very conservative."

"One of the things I'm concerned about is that as people fill in the tide pools, they're eliminating habitat for creatures that live along the shoreline," Ailä said. "There's a huge ecological component to this."

To his mind — and to Reilly's — there are better ways to honor deceased loved ones than damaging precious tide pools.

Half a mile from the Ka Iwi tide pool markers sits a park bench mounted on a concrete platform overlooking Sandy Beach. The bench bears a small plaque that reads, "Donated by the family and friends of David E. Matthews. Enjoy."

Matthews was a founding member of the Save Sandy Beach Coalition, which successfully fought coastal development. He died in 2006.

"We wanted to immortalize him on the coast," Reilly said. "So we went through the permitting process with his wife, Liz. And we did the bench, and we have a little plaque there.

"And, to this day, many people are able to sit there and enjoy it."