The owners of a Honolulu hula supply store said they plan to seek a contested case hearing to appeal $3,500 in state fines levied against them today for taking 16 five-gallon buckets of stones from a Maui beach without a permit.

Michael and Sylvia Kop of Hula Supply Center told the Board of Land and Natural Resources they were unaware that a permit was required to remove rocks from a Waiehu beach known as Sand Piles.

Michael Kop told conservation officers the small rocks were meant to be used as 'ili 'ili stones by hula halau and for lomilomi massage, according to a report by the Office of Conservation and Coastal Lands, part of the state Department of Land and Natural Resources. The hula implements are used, two in each hand, to make clicking sounds.

The report said Young Brothers at Kahului Harbor contacted state conservation officers on May 29 after receiving the rock-filled buckets for shipment to O'ahu the next day.

The beach is on state land within a conservation district. It is illegal to remove rocks and other material from conservation districts without a permit.

The Kops have 10 days to request a contested case hearing in writing.