Once again by sharing his research, Ted Arisaka continues to be very active through FB Save Georgia’s Anchorages in seeking to repeal Georgia HB 201 which restricts anchoring in Georgia’s coastal waters. See Open Letter.

Federal vs State Anchoring Zones in Georgia

I had seen some posts, most notably by FB “Save Georgia’s Anchorages” group member Bill Ballard (thank you Bill), questioning the seeming conflict between Federal and State designations for the area on Skidaway River around the Isle of Hope as well as on the Frederica River just south of Morningstar Marina Golden Isles.

I was able to load the GA DNR KMZ Files (w/their opacity down to 50%) on top of NOAA RNC maps onto Google Earth Pro (further information in the Addendum).

Skidaway River, Isle of Hope

The anchorage ground known as “110.179 Skidaway River, Isle of Hope, Ga.” can be found in the CFR Title 33 – Navigation and Navigable Waters, Chapter 1 – Coast Guard, Dept of Homeland Security, Subchapter I – Anchorages, Part 110 – Anchorage Regulations, Subpart B – Anchorage Grounds, Section 110.179 – Skidaway River, Isle of Hope Ga.

(Ref: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2012-title33-vol1/pdf/CFR-2012-title33-vol1-sec110-179.pdf)

In layman’s terms, it defines the anchorage area, sets a 50ft setback off wharves and MLW Line, cannot impede navigation, limits LOA to 65’ and sets a speed limit of 5 mph. It is designated as a “Special Anchorage Area” and in Part 109 – Special Anchorage Areas, stipulates vessels < 65ft do not need to display an anchor light.

You can see how the red GA DNR “300ft Marina Buffer” no anchoring zones overlap with the federally designated anchorage 110.179 as indicated on the NOAA RNC Chart.

Figure 1 Google Earth with NOAA and GA DNR Zones Isle of Hope

Frederica River, St Simons

The anchorage known as “St. Simons Island, Georgia” can be found in the CFR Title 33 – Navigation and Navigable Waters, Chapter 1 – Coast Guard, Dept of Homeland Security, Subchapter I – Anchorages, Part 110 – Anchorage Regulations, Subpart B – Anchorage Grounds, Section 110.72b – St. Simons Island, Georgia.

(Ref: https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CFR-2012-title33-vol1/pdf/CFR-2012-title33-vol1-sec110-72b.pdf)

Again in this case you can see how the red GA DNR “300ft Marina Buffer” no anchoring zones overlap with the federally designated anchorage 110.72b as indicated on the NOAA RNC Chart.

Both red zones currently encroach upon the federal anchorages and cause confusion for the vessel operator and law enforcement as to which laws prevail.

I corresponded jointly with Georgia DNR Coastal Resource Division and NOAA Office of Coast Survey and I am happy to report that I received clarification yesterday (2/7/20) on this matter with the following statement from GA DNR CRD:

“Hello Mr. Arisaka,

The USCG designated Special Anchorage Areas (as you’ve identified adjacent to Isle of Hope Marina in Chatham County and Morningstar Golden Isles Marina in Glyn County) prevail over state designated anchorage areas. 

Thank You,

(name redacted)”

I made a followup inquiry as to how this would be updated on the GA DNR Website depicting these zones (especially now that they have switched the base map to the NOAA RNC charts) and await their response.

I’d like to thank our state and federal agencies for working together to bring clarity to this one aspect of the new Georgia anchoring regulations.

Addendum:

To access NOAA resources to overlay RNC charts onto Google Earth visit this site:

https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/data/gis-data-and-services.html#seamless-raster-nautical-chart-services

For a great tutorial on how to do this on YouTube by David Burch of Starpath Navigation visit:

https://youtu.be/QtD7rMLcAUI

To download the Georgia DNR Zones in KMZ Format:

https://coastalgadnr.org/Liveaboards