The Richardson’s Bay Regional Agency has filed its plan to keep the anchorage clear of marine debris and derelict vessels after months of discussions with residents, environmental advocates and people anchored out on the bay.
Priscilla Njuguna, enforcement program manager for the San Francisco Bay Conservation and Development Commission, said the plan’s adequacy is under review.
“We will have a clearer idea of their responsiveness by early next week,” Njuguna said.
In December, the bay commission asked the agency and Sausalito to submit plans by March 31 on how they will remove boats that are not seaworthy.
The enforcement committee will hold a virtual meeting on April 9 and both presentations will be made available to the public, Njuguna said.
Jim Wickham, a board member for the Richardson Bay agency, said it’s hard to say how the conservation board will receive the plan, but the agency worked hard to reduce the number of derelict vessels by one third over the last year to preserve the bay’s ecology.
“We have to look at whole scope of what we are trying to do,” Wickham said. “And that includes what we are doing environmentally with protecting eel grass to recognizing we have individuals living out there.”
In the plan, the agency is determining the feasibility of a mooring field for people who want to keep their seaworthy boat on the anchorage.
“We haven’t decided the location and size of the mooring field,” Wickham said. “That’s the part we’re still addressing because we recognize it’s prohibited to have mooring out there. We are working against tide because we need support from the state and BCDC to authorize one.”
The plan also contemplates a program to allow owners of vessels who are already anchored in the bay to remain there as long as they can perform proper maintenance, said Beth Pollard, regional agency’s executive director.
“If they demonstrate that they are unable to upkeep their boat and it repeatedly goes adrift or runs aground and creates problems, they would lose the RBRA registration in this program,” Pollard said. “The board basically approved an outline of this plan but we need to bring it back in a more finalized draft plan for their public review and board adoption.”
Funding the entire transition plan will cost anywhere from $4.2 million to $4.5 million, and the agency is working to apply for federal and state grants, Wickham said.
“It is monumental task and no city, or county, has that type of money to spend currently,” he said. “Especially in today’s current economic conditions because of this virus.”
Meanwhile, the regional agency’s enforcement of the 72-hour rule is still underway. To support the transition plan, the agency hired an assistant to support Curtis Havel, the harbormaster.
David Machinski, former search and rescue boat operator for the Coast Guard, will start on Monday, Havel said. Machinski will assist on patrols and administrative work to ramp up tagging and seizing boats that do not meet seaworthy standards, are not registered or are unoccupied.
There are 125 vessels on the water, Havel said. Twenty are unoccupied and 70 to 80 of those could be categorized as marine debris, he said.
On Thursday, Havel patrolled the bay and checked up on three unoccupied vessels that are tagged for not being up to seaworthy standards.
“Just because the boat floats does not mean it’s seaworthy,” Havel said. “Boats don’t like sitting around. They are like our bodies. If you sit around all day you’ll start to fall apart. You’re body needs exercise — boats are the same way.”
As he pulled up to the vessels, seagulls and pigeons flew out of the cleat and the decks were covered in bikes, clothes, artwork, plants and boxes. He said the vessels have not moved because the masts had fallen, there was no operable engine, algae growth and holes were visible on the side of the hull.
“This is the problem,” Havel said. “If there was a wind event or storm that caused it to slip anchor there would be no way to navigate it out of harms way, or stop if from crashing into another boat or a dock.”
He said a seaworthy vessel means the engine works, decks are clean, sails and rigging are functional, ground tackle is well maintained and operational, and the sewage system is self-contained and can be pumped out in a safe manner.
He said he’s given the owners more than 72 hours to remove the vessels, but none has responded. He said he is going to seize them on Friday to be taken to the Army Corps of Engineers to be destroyed.
There is concern that if the economy continues to glide downward due to the coronavirus there will be a surge of people buying less-than-seaworthy boats to anchor in the bay — which is what caused the spike in vessels on the water in 2008, Havel said.
At a BCDC enforcement meeting, he said the board mulled the idea of breaking the supply chain and preventing derelict boats from being sold by marina operators.
“Most marina operators will sell these first chance they get, why wouldn’t they? They are just sitting there,” Havel said. “We should talk to marina operators to find out if there is a way to jettison these and work with the (state) to dispose of them.”
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