Mooring Field Off Coast of Town of Palm Beach

Earlier this week, the Town of Palm Beach Ordinances, Rules, and Standards Committee held a meeting in which the topic of possibly adding a mooring field off the coast of Town of Palm Beach was brought up.

Currently, as far as Florida laws go, “the law states that you are allowed to anchor [your boat] anywhere in State waters as long as you are not on private property… [Or in close proximity of residential areas or on the channel]” stated Captain Michael Keehan of the Palm Beach Police Department. These loose regulations can lead to some problems, for both boaters as well as the Town of Palm Beach, some of which include environmental deterioration; as anchoring in certain areas would damage the fragile ecosystem just below the water’s surface (seagrass, which provides food for manatees, are highly susceptible to destruction from anchoring).

Some advantages of the proposed regulated mooring field would include keeping the town’s coastal waters clean (much like a dock there will be a service that removes sewage from the boats, as opposed to it just being emptied into the water, and close proximity to designated waste areas would discourage littering), and knowing who is in the area, as there would be a record of who is docked where and for how long.  

Mooring Field Off Coast of Town of Palm Beach

In order for the town to designate a mooring field it would first have to go through an application and permitting process. If it is approved, the town would also have to hire a dockhand who would be responsible for its management (identifying the boats that are docked and checking on them from time to time).

With around 40 boats in Palm Beach, not including the ones who anchor off the coast on their way to places such as the Bahamas, introducing a mooring field might be an economically as well as environmentally logical next step for Palm Beach.

The committee’s decision was to revisit the potential of designating mooring areas off the coast of Town of Palm Beach later in the fall, when more residents would be in town to voice their opinions on the topic.