James Newsome Comments on Georgia’s New Anchoring Law
Another Georgian and experienced yachtsman and Waterway cruiser, James Newsome, shares his thoughts on Georgia’s new restrictive anchoring legislation. See Anchoring Under Attack in Georgia?
Reply to Bob Keller and my thoughts on the anchoring debate in Georgia,
You wrote, “As a 30+ year resident of Georgia this law is the most outrageous I have seen. This is a classic case of legislators voting on bills proposed that they have no idea about and no knowledge of what they are doing. Just trying to cast their vote so they can go on summer break and don’t have a clue what they are voting about. Disgusting really. Would like to know who sponsored and introduced this bill? Then who voted on it. They had no lobbying pushback so they voted Yea on a bill they had no clue about. Sickening. This is an embarrassment to the residents and voters of Georgia. Georgia is an afterthought on the east coast ICW and this nonsense will ensure that GA is nonexistent.”
A Senator and Representative from St. Simon’s Island and Brunswick sponsored the bill. And apparently the only lobbying group was the GA Marine Business Association or GAMBA. It’s interesting that (apparently) none of the normal waterway associations or groups knew about this legislation in last month. This includes Brad Pickel with the Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association, Waterway Guide, or Cruisers Net. To say that this bill flew under the radar is an understatement, and I don’t think this was by accident.
The bill pretends to address concerns about liveaboards, anchoring, and possibly derelict vessels, but I believe these are simply a ruse for the real purpose. What we need to know is the nexus for this law. We know that the Georgia DNR Coastal Resource Division and GAMBA were involved, but whose interests were being represented?
Let’s look at the public record so far from Doug Haymans of the Coastal Resource Division of DNR. In addition to removing the term “liveaboard” from all rules “the proposed amendments would create rules for over-night and long-term anchoring in the estuarine area of the state and establish an anchorage permit.” Hayman goes on to state that current law “doesn’t allow a live-aboard outside of an eligible marina.”
So now with the already passes amendments to HB201, DNR states that the main purpose is to establish rules for “for overnight or long-term anchoring in the estuarine areas of the state” by creating a new boating regulation.
Fortunately, GA law requires assessment of the economic impact on small businesses as part of any rule change. Here’s what Hayman has presented. “All the businesses possibly affected by this rule employ less than 100 persons. There are no additional costs to businesses, such as marinas, and if anything, these rules may direct additional customers to eligible facilities. For many years, Georgia has been viewed by transient boaters as unfriendly to their activities. The proposed amended rules should have the added benefit of opening Georgia estuarine waters to more transient boaters and therefore more business for coastal marinas.”
I think the phrase “these rules may direct additional customers to eligible facilities” is the real purpose of this amendment to HB201, and also why GAMBA is so involved. Does anyone with any sense really think that creating a permitting process, telling boaters where they can and cannot anchor, and charging boaters for anchoring is going to add benefit of opening Georgia waters to more transient boaters? At least we now understand how this is going to direct customers to eligible facilities (commercial marinas).
There is nothing about this change to HB201 that is friendly to Georgia boaters or transient boaters. It is heavy handed overreach of government and a thinly veiled effort to drive transient boaters to commercial marinas.
I have defended and advocated for cruisers to not bypass Georgia on their semiannual migrations. I’ve written many articles about Georgia’s wonderful cruising destinations and debated on social media platforms against folks who blatantly said to skip Georgia when asked for cruising advice. But I cannot defend this action by our state’s DNR and I am embarrassed that this has happened to us.
In the coming days and weeks, I think we will learn more about the changes to this law and I think the hand will be pointed to a few folks who are greedily trying to use their influential positions to line their pockets. I hope I’m wrong, I really do.
James Newsome
Comments from Cruisers (1)
The permit program is a disaster waiting to happen – for Georgia as well as cruisers who love the state. It seems so simple and the cost is modest. However…
Nothing spoils the ambiance and experience of being anchored in a remote and beautiful spot like seeing a boat with a flashing blue light coming at you. Am I going to have to stop watching the sunset and spend the next half hour showing my papers and watching them put dye in the head? Requiring a permit taped to a window raises the prospect of a law enforcement officers going by each anchored boat it sees close enough to check the permit and read the number of nights purchased. Then, they have to determine how many nights the boat has actually anchored. That means either an Orwellian tracking data base or the need to stop and talk to the vessel. This can only work as written if there are just a few approved anchorage areas in the state that can be monitored. Just the need of law enforcement having to cruise by close enough to read a document on the window will cause many to either avoid the inside route or zip through just as fast as they can. I’ve had people tell me that they avoid the state just because of the signs saying it is illegal to sleep on your boat more than 30 days a year. It wasn’t that they planned to stay longer but because they didn’t want to have to establish to law enforcement how long they had been there. I know this almost never happened but perception will keep people away just as well as fact.
Permits online? There are many boats that cruise without Internet. Sure, you can get the permit before you leave home but I’ve never gone into Georgia knowing how many nights I plan to spend there. That depends on weather and whim. Even on our 43 footer, we don’t carry a printer. If we purchased four nights and need another, what are we going to do? If a boat has purchased 5 nights and learns that Sunbury Crab Company is a must stop but it means another day, they are less likely to make the run up the river and spend money there.
We hear that the permits won’t be enforced but are just a tool to get a handle on abandoned vessels. Even if that is true, having laws on the books with no intent to enforce is terrible public policy. It is an invitation to abuse and the economic and racial profiling the south already has a bad reputation for. Furthermore, there will be little control over how this law enforcement tool is used in the future. Marina and waterfront property owners will exert pressure to check every vessel and, while they are at it, inspect the heads and papers. Local jurisdictions will use it as grant and budget writing support for additional boats and then need to justify them. This is what happened in Florida. They lost the fight to restrict anchoring so pressure was put on law enforcement to aggressively inspect anchored vessels. It got so bad that even the marina and shore business owners finally said, “Stop”. Now you can cruise the state in relative peace.
The DNR should have the flexibility to resolve problems like this within the final regulatory language. The question is whether they have the knowledge of cruising culture and the will to resist the pressure of interests that want to drastically restrict anchoring. Wording is powerful. “Every vessel intending to remain anchored *in one location for more than seven days* shall obtain a permit.” Put “overnight” inside the ** and you have a completely different situation. The first version would accomplish everything we are told is the aim of the law regarding derelict and abandoned vessels without significantly changing the status quo. I haven’t had a chance to review the law. Perhaps it has language that would restrict the DNR from making this adjustment in which case the state is going to become even more remote and less crowded. Marina and waterfront property owners will like the second version and can be expected to fight for it. The marina owners will come to regret it if they win. Consider our case. We cruise Georgia for the anchoring experience but the time spent usually results in a night at one of our favorite marinas because we need to re-supply and to pump out. If there is a restrictive and enforced permit program for short term overnight anchoring, no marina in the state will see us or our money again. We’ll join those running down the outside or make just a single midway stop in one of the approved anchorage areas.