The World Surf League continues to face off with City and County of Honolulu over policies regarding surf contest permit applications. The WSL is currently seeking a permit change for the winter season of 2018/2019. The change would see the Volcom Pipe Pro canceled in order to run two consecutive Pipe Masters events, one ending the 2018 season and another roughly a month later to kick off the 2019 season.

Today, in response to a perceived misrepresentation of the situation on the part of the WSL, Mayor Kirk Caldwell released the following statement:

The current permitting rules for surfing contests have been in place for years and were developed to balance the interests of the community with organizations that hold competitions. The process to secure permits at our beach parks is well known to all stakeholders, including officials with the World Surf League. The mayor and the director of Parks and Recreation do not have the authority to circumvent the rules, and arbitrarily changing them would be unfair to all parties involved, especially those applicants who are applying for the same location and time period as the WSL.