This paper details the design of a 1 \texttimes 8 optical power divider, using a gallium nitride (GaN) semiconductor on sapphire, which can be applied to underwater optical wireless communication. The design consists of nine parallel rectangular waveguides which are based on mode coupling phenomena. Analysis of the design was performed using the beam propagation method (BPM). The optimization was conducted using the 3D finite difference (FD)-BPM method with an optical signal input at the wavelength required for maritime application of λ = 0.45 \textmu m. The signal was injected into the central waveguide. The results showed that at a propagation length of 1480 \textmu m the optical power is divided into eight output beams with an excess loss of 0.46 dB and imbalance of 0.51 dB. The proposed design can be further developed and applied in future underwater communication technology.