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Wrightsville Beach
Monday, March 18, 2024

Boaters drop anchor, Wrightsville Beach police enforce mooring laws

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Boating is a quintessential part of Wrightsville Beach’s recreational culture, as families come from across the East Coast to enjoy the beaches and waterways. But boats that sit too long can become a nuisance or even a danger to others in the waterways and Wrightsville Beach police, looking to keep the boats moving, are enforcing laws that prevent boats from anchoring or mooring in one spot for too long.

The Wrightsville Beach Police Department recently cited two boats for illegal mooring in Banks Channel, with more citations being a possibility, said Tim Owens, Wrightsville Beach town manager.

“Every summer this happens,” Owens said of illegal mooring and anchoring. While there are several restrictions on where and how to moor or anchor a boat in Wrightsville Beach waterways, many boaters will skirt the law or are ignorant of it.

“In some cases, people are using a boat as a summer home,” Owens said. “They’ll park the boat or anchor it and use it on weekends.”

Wrightsville Beach town ordinance 92.19 prohibits boaters form mooring or anchoring their vessels for more than 30 consecutive days. Additionally, there are rules about where a boat can moor, with areas like street ends being off limits, Owens said.

Park Ranger Shannon Slocum said the ordinance is about protecting the water, not restricting access to it.

“I don’t think it’s about the riff raff,” he said. “I think it’s more about just clean waters. Water-quality issues are much more important now than they have been in the past.”

Owens said the ordinance is also designed to protect other boaters and property lining the waterways.

“Our main concern is that if the boat is not attended, it could break loose and do damage to a pier or to other boats,” Owens said.

Slocum said visitors who moor in one place for more than 30 days often don’t have a waste holding tank.

“We don’t mind if you come here, but usually anyone that stays longer than 30 days is probably trying to set up residence on their boat,” he said. “A lot of it is just a waste issue. You might have someone who dumps their waste overboard. … We don’t want that going into our waterways.”

Wrightsville Beach Mayor Bill Blair said residents sometimes complain about moored boats but don’t know what to do.

“I’ve been hearing observations from people that want to know [what to do],” Blair said. “If you have a boat and that boat is permanently moored, you have to look at where their waste goes.”

Owens said tips from the public are often how police learn about illegally moored boats.

The town codes say violators are subject to a $250 civil penalty for the first offense and $100 for each subsequent offense in the same 12 months.

WBPD Lt. James Bishop said although police boats don’t patrol all the water all of the time, they do what they can to watch for boats moored in the same spot more than 30 days.

“It is an issue,” Bishop said. “We do our best to address it.”

After a warning sticker with a threat to tow, police contact the registered owner and tell them to move the boat.

“We do everything we can to track down current owners and we generally have good compliance,” he said.

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