Honolulu Ocean Safety Department

The Honolulu Ocean Safety Department provides ocean safety service for the island of Oʻahu, which features 227 miles of coastline. This service includes ocean rescue, prevention, emergency medical first response, dispatched mobile patrol, education, outreach, and injury prevention programs, all related to ocean safety.

Our the primary responder for emergencies on the beaches and in the near shore waters for the island of Oʻahu. Near shore waters extend from the shore line to one (1) mile off shore, and this zone from the beach to one mile off shore is where the vast majority of ocean recreation activities take place. The Ocean Safety Division features five operational districts:

• The South Shore (Pearl Harbor entrance to Maunalua Bay);
• The Windward Coast (Maunalua Bay to the Kailua side of the Mokapu Peninsula);
• The North Shore (from the Kāneʻohe side of the Mōkapu Peninsula around Kahuku Point all the way to Kaʻena Point);
• The Leeward Coast (from Kaʻena Point down to the Pearl Harbor channel entrance); and,
• Hanauma Bay.

Each of Ocean Safety’s five operational districts is staffed by a Captain, five Lieutenants and between 21 and 85 Ocean Safety Officers, or Lifeguards. Each operational district uses both tower and mobile units to provide ocean safety service. Mobile units feature either a truck and ski, or truck only, and one or two Lifeguards and are on patrol. The department’s operational hours for towers and mobile units is 8 a.m. to 6:30 p.m. Tower-based service provides constant vigilance, shoreline and ocean prevention service, emergency medical first response, and ocean rescue at specific beach locations. Mobile units, some which are equipped with personal watercraft, are used to provide strategic periodic vigilance, shoreline and ocean prevention service (ocean prevention services are extended off shore by use of rescue craft), observed and dispatched emergency medical first response both on the shoreline, and in the waters and observed, and dispatched ocean rescue service (through 911 calls).

The department is challenged with maintaining service levels by an ever-increasing amount of ocean activity. The increase in ocean and beach use over the past several decades have seen significant increases in off shore activity, particularly with the introduction of kayak rental operations, stand up paddling activities, and surf instruction operations. Ocean Safety has 242 full time lifeguards, 37 contract lifeguards (for a total force of about 294 “Guards”), and an operating budget of $23 million.