Speed Limit Alert!!!

[capt-john]

In congested waters I must agree but, we don't operate our vessels in designated lanes and not everyone is conversant with even the most basic of rules such as not sailing your dingy across the bow of a 900' freighter that is restricted by her draught.

[Nomad]

That is why boaters should have to take a few tests like they do for cars.

[sharkeymarine]

Capt John, Where do you see me saying anything about Diesels or Toronto Harbour? Perhaps you should read the thread again before making a sarcastic remark?
Our fight was with the commission for trying to take away our sport.
They have now reconsidered, turned a complete 180 degrees and now agree with us.
The environmentalists are not very happy at the moment...

http://pages.zdnet.com/sharkeymarine/id30.html

That is why boaters should have to take a few tests like they do for cars.

I wonder what percent of boating accidents are caused by lack of knowledge/skill (which can be taught) vs. the percent caused by recklessness, disregard, lack of attention, drunk driving (well drunk boating) which probably can't be taught...

[midnightkayaker]

It seems the whole point of recreational boating is getting lost here. Why spend aall that $ on fuel, raise your blood pressure and end the day feeling like you just did the friday afternoon commute. There is a place for full throttle and a place for cruising in peace. A blanket speed limit idea is about as bright as one size fits all forest management, or shoreline management or any number of environmental "fixes" that don't take into acount the variability of situations encountered. I like the current laws that dictate safe boating and the promotion of navigation courtesy, and applaud the efforts that prevented another misguided regulation. We have a pointless rule here on the Chesapeake regarding boat houses that makes no sense whatsoever.

[sharkeymarine]

Thank you Midnightkayaker.....

Attorneys for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and 18 environmental groups fighting for increased manatee protection in Florida expect a federal judge to approve additional new slow-speed zones for boaters, according to a report in this morning’s Naples (Fla.) Daily News.

Legal counsel for the environmentalists said in their most recent court filing Wednesday that they anticipate U.S. District Judge Emmet Sullivan in Washington, D.C., will agree to institute the protection zones because marine industry representatives have provided “no persuasive reason” why the court should rule otherwise, the newspaper says.

“Legally, they haven’t put forth any rationale for the judge to reject this proposed stipulation,” Eric Glitzenstein, an attorney representing the 18 groups, was quoted as saying.

Earlier this year, the paper reports, environmental groups struck a deal with Fish and Wildlife: the environmentalists would agree to drop their contempt of court case against Interior Secretary Gale Norton, provided the federal agency create three additional slow-speed zones throughout the state.

The areas slated for new zone, the newspaper says, include: areas along the Caloosahatchee River in Lee County; the St. Johns River in Duval and Clay counties; and the Halifax and Tomoka rivers in Volusia County.

Reported by http://www.tradeonlytoday.com

[midnightkayaker]

Heres a short story of marine mammal protection.

Nestled between Monterey and Santa Cruz on the coast of CA is a lovely little inlet called Elk Slough, or Elk river slough. It had a population of sea otters that did well in the shallow estuary, except that they kept getting hammered by boat propellers. SOOOO the the US FWS decided to institute a ban on motor driven vessels within the confines of the slough. The ban emcompassed everyone except, you guessed it, FWS service biologists. The agency retained the exclusive rights to access the slough under power so they could continue their studies.

Now, Ive been there, kayaked it, and the estuary is so shallow that essentially its a high tide affair. You must ride the tide up, (some 4 miles) and ride the tide out, flub this up and you will be waiting in the mud because not even a resurected Missippi Paddle boat Capt, could navigate the maze of 1' deep channels at low tide. So the ban went over with a big ho-hum because not a lot of people were motoring around up their anyway.

Now to the point; the sea otters are still getting hammered by propellers, hmmm...there is only one elite group allowed to motor this body of water. Brings a whole new meaning to the old adage of "studying it to death"

Will a slower speed help manatees?

Is there any one studying this or is it just an assumption?

Did the FWS prove it would help or just toss it out there in their need for action statement?

Did they give due consideration to the no-action alternative?

How many spelling errors can you find in this post?

The best way to stop a beauracratic action is to require proof of effectiveness from the policy instead of trying to prove it won't help. Trust me on this I've worked in Public Land Management most of my carreer. I now work on private lands and I'm a lot less likely to get up and throttle a a random eco-crat with no concept of the scientific method or respect for the NEPA process.

Don't get me started on NMFS

[sharkeymarine]

Anyone using the Manasquan, Metedeconk, Toms River and portions of the Barnegat Bay better get ready to lobby!!! The commission has decided to blanket all these areas as SLOW SPEED NO WAKE ZONES!!! This is exactly the opposite of what they stated in the their meeting in January. They dropped the proposed Speed Limit idea only to turn around and try to make everything a Slow Speed No Wake Zone!!! This just proves even more that this is all about Sailboats getting to have the waterways for themselves...
If this is the first you heard of the Speed Limit proposal, be sure to click onto the Archives to see what has been happening. Please spread the word to everyone this will effect: Marina and Restuarant owners at the end of these rivers, Fishing boats, Performance boats, Jet Skis, WaveRunners, Waterskiers, etc. If this goes through, then it will only expand to other areas in the state.
Thank you for your support.

[curtis73]

I was on a lake in Pennsylvania once where they tried a speed limit once at 25 mph. It was this single worst and most dangerous thing I've ever seen.

Its not like a road and legislaters don't know that. Comparing the range of motor vehicles on the road (which ranges from a Mini Cooper to a Hummer) is like comparing a 15' tri-hull fishing boat to a 21' cabin cruiser. Not a big deal. The problem is that on a lake like this one, you get 12' aluminum rental boats up to 30' cats. That's like in comparison allowning go-carts and those huge construction trucks on the road. They are all so different. Telling a 12' rental boat with a 7.5 evinrude to stay under 25 is no problem. Telling a 30' cat to stay at 25 makes a wake that could capsize the 12' boat if the pilot isn't paying attention. Add in 10 or 12 overzealous state cops in 18' Wellcrafts who have never boated before and you get one big hypocritical mess. People died following the law so it was revoked. It cost the state so much money. The patrol boats (purchased new at a cost of about $12k, then modified with about another $5k, then un-modified for civilian use for another $3k) were sold at auction for $6000 each. $6000 return on a $20,000 boat isn't that great.

I'd say get on the bandwagon and try to defeat this legislation. This is another case of pre-emptive laws that are going to make things worse. Some poor legislator in NJ must have fallen out of a fast boat when he/she was a kid and now wants retribution (or to get his name out to the public). If it ain't broke, don't fix it.

[sharkeymarine]

Originally posted by curtis73
Some poor legislator in NJ must have fallen out of a fast boat when he/she was a kid and now wants retribution (or to get his name out to the public).

Actually, it seems more like the sailing yacht clubs that hold their regattas in these particuliar areas as well as a very rich property owner that doesn't want any noise in his back yard that are behind this.
They tried to make it sound like a safety concern until we did our homework and proved with statistics that there was no safety issue.
It also doesn't help to have a 5 member panel for the Boating Regulation Commission which whom are all sailboaters. I think we may have been able to add one addtional member from the Marine Trades Association who represents powerboaters, but if it comes to a vote, that is still 5 to 1.

[sharkeymarine]

REMINDER: Meeting coming up in 19 days May 7th 10:00am. More info: http://pages.zdnet.com/sharkeymarine/id30.html

[sharkeymarine]

An update on my website has been done for May 7th's meeting with the Boating Regulation Commission. A chart has been posted on where most of the areas will be affected. In Toms River, they are looking to place two No Wake barrels, one at the Island Heights Yacht Club and the Toms River Yacht Club. Neither should interfere with the navigational channel per the NJSMP. All in all, the meeting was very informative with the help of the NJSMP.