Anchoring limitations get county’s go-ahead

Since 2019 a total of 158 derelict and abandoned vessels have been removed from Biscayne Bay. More than half were within what Miami-Dade County calls “hot spots,” areas known for their high number of derelict and abandoned vessels.

Reasons for their abandonment are varied. A common one is boat owners couldn’t pay the slip fee to keep their vessels moored at marinas.

Statewide, more than 700 derelict boats were removed from waterways by October, according to the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservations Commission.

In 2022 the county commission was offered multiple ordinances and resolutions about handling increased boat traffic and abandoned vessels on the bay, specifically “how … vessels impact it, as well as quality of life for those in surrounding areas,” according to a report to the commission by Mayor Daniella Levine Cava.

The report was in response to the Florida Legislature amending state statutes “to authorize counties to establish anchoring limitation areas within their waterways under certain conditions.”

The report, prepared by the Department of Regulatory and Economic Resources, Division of Environmental Resources Management, called for the establishment of “Anchoring Limitation Areas” (ALAs) aimed at minimizing the impacts to sensitive natural resources … related to the anchoring of vessels in Biscayne Bay. ALAs are areas where anchoring is restricted or prohibited.

Eleven “hot spots” were identified as potential due to the presence of “sensitive environmental resources such as seagrasses, inadequate water depths, and historic documentation of long-term vessel storage and vessel abandonment.”

The report suggested that effective enforcement of Anchoring Limitation Areas in Biscayne Bay “is expected to be challenging.”

The department has proposed a pilot project, moving forward with at least two ALAs, one within Pelican Harbor and the second further south at the 79th Street Causeway. The goal is to “determine the efficacy, costs, timeline, and enforcement capabilities prior to the establishment of additional anchoring limitation areas.”

The commission accepted the report 9-0 this month, meaning the department is to begin the process.

“The general lack of limits on the location and duration of vessel anchoring in Florida waters, and the effective absence of any statutorily required minimum water depth for anchored vessels, have contributed to a number of issues adversely affecting public safety and marine and fiscal resources statewide,” the report explains.

“Vessels that are anchored and left unattended for long, often indefinite, periods frequently deteriorate to the point where they meet the definition of a derelict vessel,” the report said. “Vessels may remain anchored in one location for months or years before sinking, breaking loose from their anchor, colliding with other vessels or structures, or grounding themselves in sensitive habitat.

“Vessels anchored in water that is too shallow relative to their draft can destroy large areas of benthic habitat, including seagrass, due to shading and bottom scouring from the anchor chain and rope as a vessel swings on its anchor or repeatedly grounds itself at lower tide stages.”

“Bethnic,” according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, “is anything associated with or occurring on the bottom of a body of water. The animals and plants that live on or in the bottom are known as the benthos.

“Benthic habitat maps” are created, which “policy makers, scientists, and researchers use … to make informed decisions that help protect the nation’s fragile shallow-water coastal areas,” the report says.

The county department conducted multiple meetings and presentations,” the report explains, “to solicit input from other governmental entities with enforcement and proprietary authority over submerged lands.”