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Item J5 Charmaine Smith Ladd, representing boating organizations B.A.R.R. (Boaters' Anchoring Rights & Responsibilities) [marinersbarr.org] and the SSECN (Claiborne Young's Salty Southeast Cruisers Net) [cruisemet.net]. I have worked closely with many of the people in this room to help keep the objectives of the Pilot Program from going astray. It is easy to go astray, as The Pilot Program is written in such vague, ambiguous "fill-in- the - blanks- with -what- you- think" terms. There are objectives but no directives, and there is no funding associated with it. Florida is a State known for being boater and cruiser unfriendly. It is a fair assessment, given its history of many cities enacting illegal anchoring ordinances and losing those battles in court. So we Floridians have an image to repair, and the members I represent are very nervous that the Keys (and other Pilot Program sites) will overreach with unnecessary ordinances. Yesterday's article in the Key West Citizen brought those concerns to a boil. Prior to the Pilot Program, boats that navigate Florida waters could not be regulated outside of mooring fields. Though the public demanded the FL Statute that protects that right (Statute 327.60(2)) remain intact, and it did, the Pilot Program overrode that with a "test" for five participating sites. One site was to be in the Keys. That site has now become "All of Monroe County ". The language of the Pilot Program states that sites must be associated with a mooring field. It reads "The Pilot Program is intended to explore potential options for regulating the anchoring or mooring of non - liveaboard vessels outside the marked boundaries of public mooring fields." This means "all" boats and the majority of the Public does not understand that. There is no specification stating how far outside the marked boundaries of a mooring field this encompasses. Some Pilot Program areas are proposing 2 to 5 -mile buffer zones outside of their mooring fields. FWC has since instructed Monroe County that they can target any area in The Keys. This clearly exceeds even the vaguest language of the Pilot Program. Is the FWC making this up as they go? Surely you understand how this looks to our members, it looks like the first step of a setup to ultimately remove their right to anchor throughout Florida. Trying to restore the confidence in cruisers to come to Florida is not easy. This is why my organizations are working so hard to assist Monroe County and the other Pilot Program sites to do the right thing. Monroe County can be the model for how the Pilot Program can work, but the truth of the matter is that we do not need the Pilot Program at all to address and resolve our problem issues. On FWC's website, after submission of HB1423, it read that FWC added the Pilot Program "Due to pressures from homeowners and some others." The Pilot Program was added at the last minute and used as a tool to override the demands of the public. There is no doubt there are political agendas and pressures being applied upon others. One recent observation at the FWC website, is the change in terminology from simply being the "Pilot Program" to what now is captioned as "Anchoring Ordinance Pilot Program ". This is disturbing. B.A.R.R is a National organization dedicated to the preservation of boater's anchoring rights. In Florida, while B.A.R.R. works at the Legislative level to try to expose the Pilot Program as being unnecessary, we also recognize the need and responsibility to work at the local level to try to make some sense out of the nonsense that is the Pilot Program. I know everyone here wants to do the right thing, but the bottom line is that some sites are not doing the right thing. But Monroe County can. That brings us to the issues of today's meeting. Areas such as Boca Chica and Sunset Cove can be cleaned up by utilizing resources such as the voluntary USCG Auxiliary Vessel inspection Program and the FWC's "At- Risk" Program. There is no need to enact ordinances to declare these areas as "managed anchorages." But you most certainly can draw up a " Plan of Action" to rid the areas of derelict vessels using existing programs. This is management without ordinance. Because any ordinance affecting boats, even those that can be regulated as per FL Statute, will invariably, albeit unintentionally, alienate cruisers. Rules or ordinances requiring such things as a pump -out log will be perceived by cruisers as yet another tool for law enforcement to harass them. Boats travel in and out of areas, not every place is a marine sanctuary and has the strict laws prohibiting discharge as we do here in the Keys. The DEP has proven that sewage from boaters is the not the problem in our waters. Septic discharge from land and fertilizers used to keep homeowners' lawns green are the overwhelming sources of water pollution. The pump out boat operators maintain a log. The "less is more" approach is the way to go. Monroe County has consistently throughout this process, been trying to do just that. With that said, I want to be clear: Any ordinances of any kind that affect cruisers and their right to navigate, whether intentional or not, will be deemed totally unacceptable to the organizations and the members I represent. The Keys are America's Mainland Caribbean and these waters are held in our trust. Please help show the rest of the State that Monroe County can indeed meet the objectives of the Pilot Program without implementing unnecessary ordinances. This will go a long way in repairing Florida's image as being boater and cruiser unfriendly. The adage `Less is more" has never meant so much. Many thanks to Richard Jones and the Monroe County Commissioners for accommodating public input today. Thank you for your time and consideration.