WAILUKU, Maui - Owners of Maui's commercial ocean recreation activities pleaded with the Maui County Council this week to change a single sentence on the books and allow them to sell county-issued permits along with their surf schools and kayak tours.

Their financial security is at risk, they said. Their equipment, trucks and shop leases are nearly worthless, some argued, without long-term guarantees that they will have county parks to take their customers.

On the other side, county officials and some residents said business owners should not be able to buy and sell what is a public commodity. The county also doesn't afford the same permanent permit ownership privilege to any other license holders, such as bars or bed-and-breakfasts, they noted.

And on Oahu, a commercial ocean activities permit is treated like a concession and goes out to the highest bidder, noted Parks and Recreations Department Director Tamara Horcajo.

Horcajo said ordinance 13.04.200 is as clear as it gets: "Permits shall be nontransferable." It's always been that way, except during Mayor Alan Arakawa's administration from 2003 to 2007, when at least two ocean activities operators were able to sell their permits along with their other assets. Each permit reportedly sold for as much as $100,000.

Now suddenly the council's Economic Development, Agriculture and Recreation Committee on Thursday found itself at the center of a tug of war over Mayor Charmaine Tavares' continued effort to reform commercial ocean recreation activities (CORA) rules, the new version of which will go into effect at the start of the next fiscal year, July 1.

By limiting where the commercial activities can take place to 17 Valley Isle beaches and capping the number of permits at 139, a permit's value has grown exponentially, and so has the pressure to keep one.

"Right now, no new people (ocean activity businesses) can come in, and there's a feeling out there a permit is like gold, and you have to hang on to it," said Doug Corbin, owner of Shaka Divers for the past 11 years.

The din over the issue turned to an outcry after Horcajo presented an amendment that would loosen the law and enable the existing permit holders to transfer their permits to their spouses, domestic partners and children.

The committee took it under advisement, and members said they wouldn't make a decision until after the holidays. An ordinance change will require the support of the County Council.

With Horcajo leaving the door slightly ajar, the business owners, who have hired attorney Thomas Cole, want to push it open. In often-impassioned pleas to council members, the business operators said the family permit transfer proposal just doesn't go far enough. Without a guaranteed permit, banks have been reluctant to give out small-business loans, owners said.

However, Horcajo said the permits were never a sure thing. For one thing, they need to be renewed annually to ensure that business owners are not getting hit with violations and are paying their taxes and otherwise being responsible, Horcajo said.

Horcajo said the county has heard from all kinds of people who want a crack at the business. She's had permit requests from canoe clubs, nonprofits and other individuals. Swap meets, food vendors and artisans also want to run their businesses in the parks, which have limited space and parking.

As it stands, each permit costs $500 a year (which is a recent tenfold increase) per beach, per activity, for surfing, windsurfing, kite boarding, snorkeling, scuba and kayaking lessons and tours.

In order to be fair to entrepreneurs trying to break in, whenever a new permit becomes available, such as when a business owner without an heir dies, it will go into a lottery, said Deputy Corporation Counsel Jeffrey Ueoka. There will be no waiting lists, and the public will be notified about the opportunity in the newspaper, he said.

"It's not the government's business to tear down one business in order to give it to someone else," retorted Alan Cadiz, owner of HST Inc., a windsurfing school with 11 permits.

A weary-looking Cadiz said if the family transferability amendment were to pass without any broader provisions, his assets would dissolve with his passion for his business.

Some operators said prior to the mid-1990s they never needed permits and could conduct business at more than 150 Maui County beaches with little or no supervision, other than liability insurance.

However, county Ocean Safety Supervisor Archie Kalepa said the county noticed a dramatic spike in the number of ocean activity operators from 1999 to 2004. He and his people still hear lots of complaints about the businesses. A common refrain is that beachgoers want the parks for the public, he said.

The renowned waterman added that commercial ocean activities also have become an ocean safety issue, especially with so many inexperienced people with surfboards in the water.

He said he understands they have to find middle ground. "No one is going to be happy, but we have to do what's best for the community," Kalepa said.

This fall, the Parks and Recreation Department unofficially put into place the rules that had been in the works for years as a result of a study on the impacts of commercial ocean activities on county beaches.

The idea of the administrative rules, Horcajo reiterated to committee members Thursday, is to find a balance between public demands and rights, tourism needs and the beaches' and ocean's delicate environments. The new rules also were required by law, she noted.

During testimony Thursday, the ocean activity operators often drifted into condemning the administrative rules for the permits. A CORA permit addresses issues, such as water safety training, group number quotas, parking limits and specific beach access dates and times for activities.

Committee Chairwoman Jo Anne Johnson said the council has no authority over the administrative rules. She said the committee wanted to clarify the transferability issue as a result of the permit cap.

The Maui Chamber of Commerce and Maui Hotel & Lodging Association have come out in support of the business owners. Hotel association Executive Director Carol Reimann compared the county's current policy to "not allowing homeowners the ability to sell their home - thus stripping them of their equity and incentive to invest and upkeep their homes."

Chamber of Commerce Executive Director Pamela Tumpap said the issue of transferability doesn't affect the environment or public access. In this economic downturn, such a policy "kills our businesses by death from a thousand cuts," Tumpap said.

Ueoka and Horcajo said that they are following the law and responding to the public, and that the operators are still free to sell their businesses and all the assets that come with them.

They'll just have to reapply for a permit like everyone else if they want to use county parks as a launching point for tours and lessons, the county officials said.