KEY WEST LIVEABOARD BATTLE
Published on November 13, 2021
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It is a tough call between the freedom to anchor, which I whole heartedly support, and protecting the sea-bottom environment, which I also whole heartedly support. But I have to go with the sea bottom on this one. The people have the option (however distasteful it may be) to go elsewhere, and to live in a way that is not as damaging to our fragile sea-bottom environment. The sea-bottom, and all the flora and fauna that lives there, does not have the option of relocating. We have worked long and hard to achieve huge reductions in the damage done to the marine environment by too many large cruise ships. We need to do the same to greatly reduce the damage done by anchored boats. This can be done by adding additional moorings, adding some reserved moorings for actual transients for limited-time stays, and eliminating “residential” anchoring outright. Anchoring was OK in the old days when it was mostly just a few occasional transients for limited stays, but it is not OK anymore for several hundreds of permanent residents, each of which is creating and maintaining their own little area of dead, deserted sea-bottom. A “move every 90 days” law would only exacerbate the problem. The problem needs to be eliminated, not just made worse.