Anything is possible from government employed drones seeking to garner some brownie points.
I can vividly remember reading in Latitude 38 years ago of one such piece of ____ prosecuting a charter fishing boat operator in southern California (San Diego, I think) for "dumping sawdust into the waters..." (a law created long ago to keep commercial saw mills from dumping tons of sawdust into streams and rivers before particle board was invented) as his crew was sanding the cap rail in preparation to varnishing it. The owner was forced to purchase a full-page ad in the local paper apologizing for his sins in addition to paying a large fine. He then discharged all his American employees and moved his operation a few miles south to Mexico. We already have a "real problem". I read an article recently in the May "All At Sea" (southeast edition) magazine that the state of Georgia has modified their No Livaboard Law recently to allow some folks to live on their boats under some circumstances if they pay to dock in a "Certified Marina". Anchoring out is still illegal. As usual, money talks. If you are paying someone it's legal, if you are not, then it's illegal, just like in Melbourne FL and many other places. When I first came to the Jacksonville area I was told that the St Johns River flowed north because Georgia sucks; it wasn't until years later that I found out just exactly why Georgia sucks. A marina owner was quoted in the magazine article as saying "It's not a livaboard issue, it's a discharge issue." BS. There was already a law against pumping raw sewerage from a boat. A composting toilet would eliminate discharge of sewerage but that solution is completely overlooked. Also overlooked is the fact that the primary source of water pollution according to the EPA is "non-point" sources from civilization in general - runoff from farms, lawns and roads as well as leaky, overtaxed, private and municipal sewerage systems. It's all about the money, just as in Melbourne. Pay money to a marina owner and you are welcome; don't pay money and you are a criminal. Since we found out the we were declared to be criminals in Georgia we simply avoid the place entirely. We don't even stop for gas there when we travel on I-95. In the past we wintered in St Augustine (and spent thousands ashore there, including haulout) but since they now charge $300/month for mooring/dinghy dock (anchoring is forbidden) we don't go there any more either. [There, that should stir up the List a little!....] Norm S/V Bandersnatch Lying Julington Creek FL 30 23.8N 081 25.7W >I don't think that removing debris is dredging as long as the depth isn't >changing. He wouldn't be altering the bottom. I >can't believe you would >need a permit to remove things like rusty bicycles that he said he has >found in the past. If so we >have a real problem. I can understand if it >was a reef but not when it's posing a danger to both boaters and marine >life. _______________________________________________ Liveaboard mailing list [email protected] To adjust your membership settings over the web http://liveaboardonline.com/mailman/listinfo/liveaboard To subscribe send an email to [email protected] To unsubscribe send an email to [email protected] The archives are at http://www.liveaboardonline.com/pipermail/liveaboard/ To search the archives http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] The Mailman Users Guide can be found here http://www.gnu.org/software/mailman/mailman-member/index.html
