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Would that also be the case if it was on private land? If my hypothetical private island had a few acres added to it from an eruption (can you even buy an activ

Would that also be the case if it was on private land? If my hypothetical private island had a few acres added to it from an eruption (can you even buy an active volcano?) , would it still be owned by the state?

goodcanadian 4y ago
Yes. It is clearly defined in Hawaii state law.
scheme271 4y ago
Yes, all beaches and coastal areas to the high tide mark are public property according to the state constitution. Pretty much all coastal areas are already owned by the federal or state government and lava adding to it would just add to that.
- MichaelZuo 4y ago
  Aren't there privately owned beaches in Hawaii?
  - linksnapzz 4y ago
    You can own property abutting a beach, all the way down to the mean high tide line. Below that that, it's public.
  - NovemberWhiskey 4y ago
    Not even Mark Zuckerberg can own a beach in Hawaii.
    - TylerE 4y ago
      For a few billion I bet we’d sell him one of the small uninhabited ones. There are over a hundred, ranging from tiny to a few thousand acres.
      - dylan604 4y ago
        I'd sell him the stretch of beach that is most highly active with lava flows.
  - markdown 4y ago
    Nope. You might have trouble getting there though. If there's no public road/easement to the beach, you'd have to get there by boat in order to legally use the beach.
    - lazide 4y ago
      And the line above the high tide line is where it ‘stops’, so you’d need to leave or trespass pretty quickly.