Key West The Newspaper

BOCA CHICA BASIN, FL – At the next Board of County Commissioners meeting Nov. 22 at the Harvey Government Center in Key West, Monroe County will take another step toward trying to create a managed public mooring field for liveaboard and transient boaters.

The Commission will select a firm to conduct a “detailed” feasibility study for a mooring field at the popular anchorage site at Boca Chica Basin in the Lower Keys. The study that will provide detailed benthic (ecology of the bottom of the basin) and bathymetric (water depth) information. It will cost about $46,400 and be paid for with Boating Improvement funds received from boat registrations.

There are now negative environmental and quality of life impacts from many of the 60 to 70 boaters and stored vessels at the unmanaged anchorage site between Stock Island and Boca Chica Key. They include damage to the seagrass, inappropriate shore side access, crime, noise, trash, overcrowding, decreased water quality and damage to marine resources.

A managed mooring field with a designated shore side facility for boaters to dock their dinghies and dump their trash would alleviate problems, help ensure compliance with the Clean Vessel Act and provide a safe, secure harbor for short-term and long-term boaters.

“This detailed study is just another step in the process,” said Rich Jones, Senior Marine Resources Administrator of Monroe County Planning & Environmental Resources Department. “There are no guarantees, with all the permitting and other challenges. But Monroe County is forging ahead to try to protect the waters of the Keys and provide proper infrastructure for responsible boaters.”

In 2014, Monroe County had a general feasibility study conducted on three possible mooring field sites in the Keys: Boca Chica Basin and Jewfish Creek and Buttonwood Sound, both in Key Largo. The Commission selected Buttonwood Sound as the best choice to pursue a mooring field, but there were strong objections by the public to that site. With limited usage of the anchorage at Jewfish Creek, Boca Chica Basin now has become the best option to pursue.

The 2014 study recommended that Boca Chica Basin could handle about 58 mooring spots. Each mooring would use a helical rock anchor, which is like a screw. It would be embedded into the seabed to prevent dragging and seagrass damage associated with traditional ground tackle and unpermitted mooring devices.

The new study will provide greater detail needed in order to try to secure permits with the Florida Department of Environmental Protection, the Army Corps of Engineers and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. (The Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary also would provide comment on any permitting).

The firms that submitted proposals for the study are Akins and CSI. Akins’ bid was $46,309, just $91 less than CSI’s bid. But CSI’s proposal provided greater detail and would provide additional tasks, including providing mapping of debris piles for possible restoration areas and a biological survey in the potential dinghy dockage area.