AS SEEN IN THE JULY/AUG 2006 ISSUE 

Is lack of public access taking a big bite out of sport fishing?

It’s a crisis, but are we doomed? That’s what Florida anglers and charter captains want to know as they have more and more trouble finding places to dock and launch their boats.

It’s sad, but true. In February 2006, the American Sportfishing Association (ASA) asked members to identify the biggest challenge facing sportfishermen today. They said “public access” is their number one concern, says ASA statistician Rob Southwick. “Thirty percent of close to one thousand anglers surveyed said dockage and public access to boat ramps is more critical than water quality, too much recreational fishing pressure, lack of fish, or angling expenditures. So, yes, I would say the situation is dire, and there is reason to believe that in urban areas such as South Florida, where waterfront real-estate is at an absolute premium, and public marinas and boat ramps are rapidly evolving into private facilities, the issue is even more critical,” added Southwick.

This loss of public access may account for the fact that Florida saltwater fishing license sales have dipped from a high in 1999, at a bit over 600,000, to 449,000 in 2003.

At the recent American Boating Congress, sponsored by the National Marine Manufacturers Association, two of boating’s leading executives, Genmar CEO Irwin Jacobs and Brunswick CEO Dusty McCoy, acknowledged the gravity of the situation and said it is having an effect on both ends- consumers and manufacturers.

“Captains point the finger directly at population explosion”
“First, consider the population explosion,” says Capt. Ron Tomlin, a Florida native who owns Natural High Adventures & Executive Services, a fishing guide/outfitting company. “When I was born, the population of Florida was 2.5 million...now it's almost 19 million. The population in the Tampa Bay area alone is more than 2.5 million. A good example of the problem can be seen right here in the Everglades City/Chokoloskee area of Southwest Florida, where I fish, guide, and take folks camping. Between hurricanes destroying a number of marinas, and developers taking over even more, public access to the Ten Thousand Islands/Everglades National Park for fishermen and boaters is rapidly dwindling. If that is not bad enough, the cost of the remaining access points is going through the roof. The few public ramps and landings remaining are so crowded on weekends that you often have to wait more than an hour to launch a boat. Consider that over a thousand people relocate to Florida every day (not including tourists). The fact that 75 percent of those folks move to within twenty miles of the coastline because they, too, enjoy boating and fishing, makes it even easier to understand why the lines at the limited number of remaining ramps are so long,” added Tomlin.

When we asked Tomlin for photos of crowded ramps to run with this story, he responded, “Don’t have any. I’m usually too busy avoiding all of the congestion to take photos of the madness at the ramp while trying to get my boat in the water.”

Captain Budd Neviaser, vice president of the Florida Guides Association, and president of the Halifax Sport Fishing Club agrees: “Tremendous increases in population and shrinkage of waterfront property available for public usage have killed the appetite of many who would otherwise enjoy an outing on a sandbar or a few hours of fishing along a river.”

Land values continue to soar:
Tomlin went on to add, “Land values are so inflated right now that there is little to no possibility of any relief coming any time soon. The way most of us in the recreational angling community see it, in a few more years, we may not be able to afford to go fishing or boating in Everglades National Park or the surrounding waters. The same fear appears to be spreading all along the West Coast of Florida. When developers are buying up old Boy Scout camps built 70 years ago that aren’t even on the water, you can rest assured that every single available waterfront property is quickly on its way out. It is completely out of control with seemingly little concern on the part of our politicians. Between the developers and the tree huggers attempting to eliminate motorized boating, it's becoming increasingly frustrating to be a fisherman in Florida.”

Capt. Neviaser shares the frustration. “Entrepreneurs have been buying up entire marina plots for offers sellers cannot refuse- refurbishing the docks in some cases, and reselling the slips for tens of thousands, and sometimes hundreds of thousands of dollars. This has taken a major toll on guides and recreational anglers who cannot afford the exorbitant annual rates of a boat slip. They have to revert to trailerable boats with no place to pick up or discharge clients. My own slip rental has increased over 35 percent! The weekend lines to get in and out of the water at the ever-decreasing available launch points, cause an ever-increasing discouragement that gradually destroys the desire for participating in a sport that we all enjoy so much.”

Are these captains exaggerating? For an unbiased perspective, we contacted a water-access guru in Washington, D.C. “I get e-mails almost daily from boaters in Florida who have lost or are about to lose wet slips and dry-rack space,” says Ryck Lydecker, assistant vice president for Government Affairs for Boat Owners Association of the United States (the marine equivalent of AAA).

“This loss is often as much from being priced out of the market when marinas and racks are converted to condo ownership as from facilities being closed to the public to be replaced by residential units. I’ve heard of wet slips in South Florida selling for a half-million dollars and dry-rack slots going for over $70,000. Granted, a small segment of the market is willing to pay those prices to ensure their own access, but, of course, not everyone can afford it,” added Lydecker.

He continued, “The problem is compounded when marinas that do retain condo slips- often to be sold with a residential unit- phase out traditional services like boat and equipment repair, haul out, fuel docks, retail ship’s store, and sewage pump-outs. Then, too, the trend for public marinas that remain in the rental market is often to reconfigure the slips for larger boats, 40 ft. and up. So if you’ve got a 25 ft. twin outboard powered center console that you’d really rather not trailer, you could be completely out of luck. I’ve heard of fishermen leaving Florida for the Carolinas for these reasons alone- but we’ve been hearing about all the same issues emerging up there, it’s just not as acute yet.”

What’s being done?
“For trailered boats, the problem is magnified with ramps, docks, and parking lots that are outdated and inadequately equipped for the larger boats that fishermen tow today- nor the bigger, more powerful rigs used to haul them. It’s no secret that public boat ramps are in short supply in the state, but the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission (FWC) is working hard to alleviate this problem.

“It’s not all gloom and doom, or time to sell your boat,” says Lydecker. “The good news is that increasingly, local jurisdictions, such as county councils, are hearing about the access problem or facing such issues themselves (many elected officials in Florida are boaters and anglers, after all) and working toward solutions such as tax relief for existing marinas or even buying and developing public marinas themselves. I believe that as anglers and boaters continue to get organized (which, unfortunately usually takes a crisis to accomplish) and they continue to enter into the public policy debate, the pendulum will swing the other way. And don’t forget, that debate is sometimes held at the ballot box.”

What can you do?
We returned to the Boat Owners’ Association for ways to take action: The best thing the boating and angling community can do is to get organized into groups that can agree on the same issues, develop reasonable solutions, and speak with one strong voice. Many of these issues arise- and must be dealt with- at the local level (town, city, county) and policy makers need to hear from local voters who are also boaters. There are some tips on grassroots action on www.BoatUS.com; click on News/Government Affairs.

Two statewide organizations in Florida are Standing Watch (www.Standing-Watch.org) and Coastal Conservation Association (www.CCAFlorida.org), both can be helpful.

Also, contact Bob Swett at Florida Sea Grant 352.362.5113 or rswett@ufl.edu. He did some surveys last year on access and water dependent uses and should have some helpful insight and further contacts.

If you can reach FWC chairman, Rodney Baretto, he, too, would be a good contact. Call the commission office at 850.487.3796

Lastly, check the Florida Boating Advisory Council membership for additional info (http://myfwc.com/law/council/).

Climbing up a slippery slope
One of the most active lobbying groups in the state is the Marine Industries Association of South Florida (MIASF). They’ve learned through the years that demonstrating to legislators the huge and long-term economic contributions of the boating industry, makes local governments pay attention. MIASF’s president, Kristina Hebert, addressed the subject in the group’s newsletter;

“The economic impact of the recreational marine industry in Broward County and the state at large is astounding! In 2005, the marine industry had a state-wide economic impact of $18.4 billion dollars and was responsible for 220,000 jobs. Fifty-eight percent of this economic impact and 60 percent of the jobs were right here in Broward County. We’re considering ways to purchase and redevelop waterfront property and ways to get the government to purchase land to create sites for waterfront businesses. We’re also looking into public/private partnerships to procure land for future working waterfront relocations and ways to get the government to subsidize the marine industry.”

“Our goal is to bring about a unified voice and to educate the legislature as to the marine industry’s value to Florida’s economy, lifestyle, and political/electoral process,” added MIASF Executive Director, Frank Herhold.

Just for a second, close your eyes and imagine empty docks, dense areas of condominiums all along the waterways, and an eerily quiet Intracoastal without the humming sound of boat engines. Despite our successes, from 2000 to 2005, there has been a 32 percent decrease in the number of marine service and repair facilities, and that percentage is on the rise. Currently, there is a moratorium on expansion or development of marine facilities in particular areas. Waterfront property values have skyrocketed along with taxes at a rate that has made the cost of doing business higher than the ability to profit. Marina and boat yard owners are opting to sell to private developers to gain a financial return on their lifelong investments. Add to this the constant recurrence of hurricanes, and Department of Homeland Security requirements, and it’s not hard to see the challenges ahead of us. The slippery slope can be corrected. Get involved. This is YOUR industry!

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