A 72-foot vessel known locally as the “pirate ship” is no longer sitting at Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor after Hawaii officials had it impounded and towed away this week. The boat, named Treasure Seeker, was allegedly moored illegally at the state-run harbor before crews hauled it out, with the cost of the operation charged to the vessel's owner.
The impoundment was carried out by the Hawaii Department of Land and Natural Resources, according to Hawaii News Now, which first reported that both the department's Division of Conservation and Resources Enforcement and its Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation were involved in impounding the Treasure Seeker. The state contracted Henry Marine Services to physically tow the vessel out of the harbor, the outlet reported. Officials are now preparing to dispose of the boat, with any disposal process required to follow procedures laid out in the Hawaii Revised Statutes, per the same report.
Under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 200-16, a boat owner or operator has five working days after receiving an impoundment notice to request an administrative hearing, and the state can sell or dispose of an unclaimed vessel after 10 working days, according to Justia Law. If the eventual public auction doesn't cover towing, storage, and administrative expenses, the state is authorized to pursue the registered owner for the difference in Environmental Court under Hawaii Revised Statutes § 200-47, as detailed by FindLaw.
A Boat With a Troubled Reputation
Local community reports have linked the Treasure Seeker to a red dye diesel fuel spill at Ala Wai Harbor in May, an incident that prompted the U.S. Coast Guard and Hawaii state agencies to deploy containment booms near the harbor docks. That connection, circulated in a Facebook post from My Kailua and corroborated by Coast Guard reporting on the spill response, has fueled frustration among residents about derelict and hazardous vessels lingering in state waters.
Ala Wai Small Boat Harbor is the largest state-managed small boat facility in Hawaii, with nearly 700 berths and 85 moorings sitting at the mouth of the Ala Wai Canal between Waikiki and Ala Moana. The harbor's scale hasn't spared it from long-running problems: Honolulu Civil Beat reported in May 2025 that the facility faced infrastructure decay and a backlog of derelict vessels, including an 80-foot boat that sank in 2022 and still hadn't been recovered years later, part of what state officials estimated as a $300 million repair backlog across Hawaii's boating facilities.
Salvage Costs and Insurance Rules Complicate Cleanup
Removing unwanted vessels from the harbor isn't simple or cheap. Hawaii News Now separately reported in July that a Big Island salvage contractor publicly disputed a state removal contract after raising a sunken vessel from Ala Wai Harbor, alleging the state mischaracterized what he said was a former U.S. Navy minesweeper as an ordinary recreational craft and left him owed hundreds of thousands of dollars.
To guard against taxpayers absorbing those kinds of costs, Hawaii Revised Statutes § 200-13.5 requires vessels 26 feet or longer to carry at least $100,000 in insurance covering potential salvage and removal, according to the state's Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation. Harbor permit holders must also carry between $300,000 and $500,000 in liability coverage, the division notes. There is no state-funded disposal program for unwanted boats in Hawaii, meaning owners remain legally responsible for private disposal, donation, or sale — and simply abandoning a vessel is illegal and creates hazardous marine debris, the division's guidance states.
Part of a Bigger Pattern at the Harbor
The Treasure Seeker's removal lands amid broader tension over how the state enforces rules at Ala Wai Harbor. Aloha State Daily reported in June that the Board of Land and Natural Resources has stuck with a policy of immediate vehicle towing for parking overstays at the harbor, citing a shortage of enforcement officers available to issue citations instead — a policy that saw more than 2,500 vehicles towed from harbor lots in 2024. That same month, the land board rejected a resident challenge to the aggressive towing practices, and state lawmakers have since begun scrutinizing predatory towing industry practices more broadly.
Longer term, a vision report from the University of Hawaii Community Design Center, commissioned by the state boating division, has floated redevelopment concepts for Ala Wai Harbor ranging from $251 million to $356 million, including green space and upgraded public amenities. Whether that kind of investment ever materializes, the immediate reality is that the Treasure Seeker is gone, its owner is on the hook for the towing bill, and the harbor's larger derelict-vessel problem remains unresolved.
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