Posted on June 30, 2025
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources reported Thursday that the dredging at Pohoiki Boat Ramp could be finished ahead of schedule.
According to the DLNR, Division of Boating and Ocean Recreation Engineer Finn McCall made a site visit to Pohoiki on Tuesday and was “astounded by the progress” crews from contractor Goodfellow Bros. have made, particularly with a required completion of next February, and a stated expectation of November.
“I mean I’m absolutely blown away,” McCall said in a statement. “I was not expecting them to get this far. I’d say they’re about halfway done with the excavation portion of the project. So, it’s looking really good. Looking like we may be done ahead of schedule.”
It’s the largest dredging job ever for DOBOR. The removal of 42,000 cubic yards of black sand, rocks and boulders, deposited by the 2018 eruption of Kilauea, has been underway for two weeks to clear the boat ramp at Pohoiki. Forty-two-thousand cubic yards in volume is equivalent in size to 42,000 large refrigerators.
Heavy equipment is being used to scoop large buckets of volcanic debris from near the boat ramp to near the shoreline. Once the inner basin is cleared, a crane will be brought to the site to create a wide entrance.
“The entrance will be approximately 320 feet wide,” McCall said. “There really wasn’t a channel before. It was just an open bay, but the designated entrance, I think, was 40 feet.”
Pohoiki and the adjoining Isaac Hale Beach Park have long been a gathering place for people and families to have fun. The boat ramp was critical to Puna area fishers and since it was blocked, boats have had to launch from and travel to and from the Wailoa Small Boat Harbor in Hilo.
The trip was expensive and time-consuming, and several small commercial fishing operations reportedly went out of business during the blockage.
“This has been one of the highest-priority projects I’ve worked on. The community is excited, and fishermen can’t wait to have the ramp and entrance restored,” McCall said.
For most dredging projects at state small boat harbors, fine sediment and sand is removed. For this one, a lot of heavy material is being hauled away.
Most harbors need to be dredged every seven or eight years. “For Pohoiki it remains to be seen. We really can’t predict how quickly the new channel might fill back in and how soon we’d have to dredge. We’re just going to have to closely monitor it after the project is complete,” McCall concluded.
Many people have enjoyed the “hot pond” that formed at the bottom of the blocked boat ramp. People are reminded that entering the project area to swim is strictly prohibited, according to the DLNR. It is an active construction area and is closed around-the-clock.
DLNR photo of ongoing dredging near Pohoiki Boat Ramp in lower Puna.
