Wally Moran is an experienced and outspoken cruiser who has been involved in the fight to protect boaters’ rights.    See New Florida Anchoring Restrictions

Click here for Wally’s letter to FL legislators: Anchoring legislation

Wally Moran

A dead arapaima recently washed ashore along Florida’s Caloosahatchee River. The monster river fish is native to the Amazon and can grow up to 10ft.

National Zoo

For photos, go to https://nationalzoo.si.edu/animals/arapaima

Anchoring restrictions imposed by Florida’s legislators have been increasing for years with legislators pressured by wealthy landowners to remove all visiting vessels. See AGLCA Confronts More Anchor Restrictions in Florida. Our thanks to frequent contributor, Jim Healy, for this information as posted on AGLCA’s Forum.

There are two new bills in Florida that have the potential to become common practice up and down the East Coast. (That’s one reason our coalition has struggled over the years to get this “right,” whatever “right” is.) One is a bill that limits the amount of time a boat can anchor in any one place to 30 consecutive days in any calendar year. After 30-days, the boat has to move at least one mile from where it was. I would like to have seen that a larger distance, but one mile is enough. This involves “Anchoring Restricted Areas.” ARAs can be defined bu local municipalities, with narrow waterways crowded with private and commercial docks and lots of traffic. The amount of territory they can occupy is also limited, so it can’t be the entire available water course.

The other bill creates a new category of “nuisance boat.” If a boat gets flagged for conditions that the law states lead to becoming derelict 3 times in 18 months, it can be declared a “nuisance” and can be seized by the authorities. This, to “prevent it” from becoming derelict. I am personally convinced that the water police in various municipalities know the problem vessels and their owners, so again, I think this is a positive step forward.

Both of these bills are in response to the growing awareness that boats that are long term stored on the water tend to deteriorate and devolve towards becoming derelict. That probably isn’t what the owner originally wanted, but we see that on land, too, with rusting old cars in back lots that the owner once though would get around to “fixing’ up again.”

Making boats move is good because it means that owners will have to inspect ground tackle and make the engines run at least once a month. Or, will have to move that long-term stored boat to a mooring field and comply with the regulations of the field operator. And the waterfront property owners will see that movement occurring. And yes, municipalities that have whined long and loud about long-term anchored boats will have to step up with enforcement. None of that affects the AGLCA/MTOA/SSCA/DeFevers Cruisers population of member/cruisers, so it is good for us. Why? It will lead to keeping anchorages open and anchoring available to our members as they cruise, visit points-of-interest, and move on. And, it seems likely that it will open some anchorages that are currently clogged up with long-term stored boats.

Stay alert, though. There are things happening that may not be as favorable…

Jim

Monk 36 Hull #132

Anchoring restrictions imposed by Florida’s legislators have been increasing for years with legislators pressured by wealthy landowners to remove all visiting vessels. Wally Moran is an experienced and outspoken cruiser who has been involved in the fight to protect boaters’ rights. See AGLCA Confronts More Anchor Restrictions in Florida.

In 2016, cruisers lost their right to anchor in Sunset Lake and parts of the Venetian Causeway in Miami Beach, and in Middle River, Fort Lauderdale. At the time, we were assured by the legislators that this “temporary” restriction would not be kept in place following the FWC recommendations in 2017.
That was a lie. We were screwed. I outlined what happened in my blog post, https://bloggingtheicw.blogspot.com/2017/06/florida-anchoring-sneak-playwe-were.html if you’d like the history of this.
Furthermore, it was a lie that the people supposed to be looking out for our interests should have stood up to. That didn’t happen.
At the time, I said that our loss of these anchorages would come back to bite us, and so it has, with the Florida legislature this year looking at adding six further areas – Lake Sylvia in Fort Lauderdale being the major one – to the restricted list.
Speaking as the president of the Cruisers Rights Network of North America, we stand against this proposed legislation. Should it pass, God forbid, we will challenge it in court.
I get that there are significant issues to be dealt with, mostly involving derelict, wet stored boats. There are laws in place to deal with this issue, laws that are not being enforced. That action – enforcing current laws – is the very FIRST step that the legislature should be looking at – not creating more laws that will not solve the problem and that will further restrict our right to anchor.
If we don’t stop this now, what will next year’s legislative calendar bring us? What other anchorages will we be losing?
What can the CRNNA do? Just ask the city of Gulfport FL and the communities on Boca Ciega Bay in western Florida. Gulfport and other communities were enforcing their illegal anchoring ordinances last spring. Singlehandedly, the CRNNA put a stop to that, including getting an agreement from the Pinellas County Sheriffs Department to stop enforcing illegal local ordinances. We also supported a Gulfport boater who had received a ticket, hiring a lawyer for him, and forced the city of Gulfport to back down on its illegal enforcement.
If you’d like more information, if you’d like to support the CRNNA with your time and knowledge, we can be found at www.CRNNA.com and on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/groups/savefloridasanchorages

Wally Moran