New Statewide Anchoring and Mooring Rules Proposed

It 2006 a concerned Dade County waterfront homeowner called about a sailboat anchored in the bay for a long time. According to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Commission (FWC), there were no regulation of boats stored on the state's waterways. 2 years later ,the FWC is proposing statewide legislation for enactment in 2009. The proposed legislation, addresses several waterway management issues in addition to unregulated anchoring.

This has some local governments concerned about their "Home Rule" right to establish regulations based their own situation. While the proposal continues to prohibit anchoring of unattended vessel within a 500-foot buffer zone around public mooring/marina facilities, it limits the ability of a county or city to regulate the length of time a vessel would be allowed to anchor.

The 30-day limit would supersede Clearwater's 3-day limit. The City of Clearwater currently limits overnight anchorage to no more than 3 days within a 30-day period conflicting with the proposed legislation, which would allow municipalities to pass an ordinance prohibiting vessels from overnight anchoring for more than 30 consecutive nights or for more than a total of 120 nights per year.

Another concern is that live-aboard boaters would be able to anchor for 30 days each in various cities (for example Belleair, Clearwater, and Dunedin) and repeat the cycle indefinitely – complying with the legislation but never moving more than a few miles in the process. There could be an unintended consequence small radius live aboard communities being established in local waters, exposing waterfront homeowners to uninvited neighbors in larger numbers for longer periods of time.

The FWC will have a final hearing on the issue before the 2009 legislative session on December 3rd in Key West. Comments can be sent via email to Anchoring.Mooring@myfwc.com. The proposed legislation can be read at http://myfwc.com/boating/Docs/Boating2009.pdf