HONOLULU -- For the first time the Coast Guard on Monday met with Kauai opponents of the Hawaii Superferry.

Last week, protestors on surf boards, canoes and kayaks defied Coast Guard efforts to keep open Nawiliwili Harbor.

The Superferry canceled all trips to Kauai after the Coast Guard said it could not guarantee safety in the harbor.

Kauai's mayor on Monday invited Superferry opponents and Coast Guard officials to meet in his office. There the Coast Guard explained their duty to protect both the Superferry and protestors.

"The Coast Guard's responsibility to ensure public safety, to ensure that there was a safe place for demonstrators to legally and safely demonstrate and to also secure the safe passage of the Superferry," Coast Guard Capt. Vince Atkins said.

Atkins said that the meetings were fair and went smoothly. However, leaders from local protest groups felt otherwise.

"They sort of drew the line in the sand, and most of us took it as a threat and there wasn't much room for negotiation," People for the Preservation of Kauai Rich Hoeppner said.

The Superferry has been docked since protestors on Kauai blocked Nawiliwili Harbor, and a judge temporarily banned it from using Kahului Harbor on Maui.

Friday, the state Supreme Court explained why the state and ferry must do an environmental assessment.

The court said the state wrongly concluded piers for the Superferry could be built without considering all of the Superferry's impacts.