At the Anchorage Advisory Committee meeting this week, Fort Myers Beach Harbormaster Austin Gilchrist (pictured) reported that there was a slowdown in pump out requests. What they pump out is what boat people release from their bodies after a long day of eating and drinking.
That “stuff” needs to go somewhere and that somewhere does not include in the canal. It needs to be properly disposed of.
Gilchrist said the complaints were not coming from the mooring field residents. They are from outside the field, the marina’s or anchorage field.
Gilchrist reported that residents had complained of “odors” in the canals. So, the town took water samples which he said did not show waste coming out of “our area.”
Gilchrist says he’s been in contact with the Lee County Sheriff, the Coast Guard and the Department of Environmental Protection regarding how to regulate MSD (marine sanitation device) pump outs. He’s pushing for dye tabs and getting a “surveillance” system to know when people are “discharging” in the water so it shows up to be recorded.
Have you seen some of these boat people. Not trying to group them all together by any means but they are just floating homeless people. Pooping in the bay is probably a minor nasty habit they have. Shouldn’t these boats be inspected for safety and cleanliness? You the town are the lease holder. I’d imagine an inspection of the vessels being parked there is warranted.
Agree with Christy…Who knows what sanitation efforts these Bay gypsies are doing, if anything?!
And to think the Town wants to expand the mooring fields so we can have dirtier water!! They should make mooring a short term thing, like 3 months, and the boats have to move to another location, not just a different mooring ball, but a different field somewhere else for at least 3 months.
Thank goodness! When I see those boats moored, especially the ones not in the mooring field, that never move because they are basically a motor-less, sail-less decayed fiberglass tube…. I often think about the body waste going into our waterways.
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