Well this is definitely some great news … the Coral Bay Community Council just received $90,000 which will be used to remove old boats and other marine debris along the shores of Coral Bay harbors, in the mangroves and in the boat mooring areas. The Council is also offering in-kind services and funds, bringing the project total up to nearly $140,000.
“For decades, on an on-going basis, cleanup, removal and disposal of marine debris, and rescue of grounded vessels (two sailboats were rescued after T.S. Bertha recently), have been accomplished by boaters, the Coral Bay Yacht Club members, the Coral Bay Community Council and other community volunteers. The moorings maintainer, charter boat captains, marine services store, and shoreline restaurants all participate. However these volunteers have been frustrated by the lack of funding to remove the grounded and sunken wrecks that leave visitors with the erroneous conclusion that Coral Bay’s boaters don’t care environmentally…,” said Sharon Coldren, President of the Coral Bay Community Council. “This federal NOAA grant funding for derelict vessel removal will raise the morale of all who continuously work to keep the bay clean.”
According to the Council, the project’s main task is to remove abandoned and derelict vessels from the harbor. Currently there are about a dozen grounded boats, which can pose a threat to the environment. This project, upon completion, will allow seagrass to regrow and mangroves to put down new roots, returning the area to more pristine conditions.
Moving forward, to reduce future locally-generated marine debris, the Council plans to start a marine debris reduction and reporting program. The program will include all kinds of debris– from litter thrown into ghuts and along roads to awareness of incidental oil/fuel spills by boats and outboard engines, and reducing the number of abandoned floating boats.
Such great news and great work to everyone involved!
Speaking of Coral Bay … tonight’s the meeting on the proposed marina. It’s happening at 4:30 p.m. at the Legislature Building. And from what we heard, it sounds like it’s going to be a packed one. We’ll keep you all posted.
The best to all against the proposal of Mega Yacht Marina. It seems that the Marina Committee will get FREE HELP to clean up their harbor before coming in with barges.
It’s great getting all the old boats cleaned out, that’s a start. What I would like to ask all those environmental Coral Bay live aboards is where they pump out? Most of those boats never leave the bay, so I guess I already know the answer. Everybody knows you don’t swim in CB, the water is disgusting. Why is this never addressed?
Because there are no soils standards in V.I. for installation of land septic systems and all of the hillsides and septage runs into the bay no matter what. The little bit that comes from boats is miniscule compared to land borne septage. This has been proven over and over again all over the U.S.
Coral Bay Denizen is correct; most boats are vacant 90% of the year— as for the other 10% most people are gone to work all day. All the studies have shown the boat impact to be minimal. Heavy rain washes all the donkey, goat, and sheep feces into the bay along with tons of soil and septic effluent. The water depth is continually decreasing from the erosion. If it rains heavily, the bay turns brown in minutes. If there is no rain for a few weeks, the water clears and you can see to the bottom. All the boaters want a dock with fuel, water and pump-out services. This marina is trying to avoid dredging permits but the construction will only cause more erosion.