On Fri, Mar 26, 2010 at 3:45 AM, Paul Hayward <pdh_at_mmcl.co.nz> wrote: > I wonder if there are similar situations in Florida or Maine - with coastal > recreation areas that once fell outside working 'Harbours'; but which have > now been pulled into the extended zone of a nearby Harbour - to allow local > restrictions to suit the local burghers. > > The harbor extension practice seems bizarre to me. According to that system they could claim that a cape or headland was a "harbor". I wonder if they are explaining all that to the international shipping. Has anyone taken that to the Federal Court system there? The only case I know of where internationally navigable waters have been declared to be within local jurisdiction is the San Juan Islands in Washington State where they County Commissioners made all the waters of the islands off limits to personal watercraft (e.g.: jet skis). They had that ruling upheld, eventually, by the state supreme court but I don't think it's gone to the U.S. Supreme Court yet. Turns out that they cannot cite a PWC for transiting the islands (international commerce, apparently) but they can, at least under state law, regulate the waters somewhat. Many people who otherwise would cheefully sink a jetski (any jetski) were upset by the rulings. The San Juan Islands encompass water directly adjacent to (on two sides - north and west) by Canadian water, after all. The reasoning for the ban was that the sheriff's department for that county does not have the manpower to police the PWCs which were, allegedly, creating havoc amongst the other boaters. I wonder if the USCG is citing PWCs under that local law. I spend a lot of time in the San Juans and I have not seen a jet ski since they passed the ruling. Interestingly enough, no jet skis off our community beach on Whidbey Island either. Now that I think about it, I haven't seen jet skis in Puget Sound. Maybe the 50F water discourages them. At any rate, as far as I know, the San Juan Island PWC ban has been the only attempt to extend local authority over what otherwise would be under the sole authority of the USCG. Craig Jungers Moses Lake, WA www.nwkayaking.net *************************************************************************** PaddleWise Paddling Mailing List - Any opinions or suggestions expressed here are solely those of the writer(s). You must assume the entire responsibility for reliance upon them. All postings copyright the author. Submissions: PaddleWise_at_PaddleWise.net Subscriptions: PaddleWise-request_at_PaddleWise.net Website: http://www.paddlewise.net/ ***************************************************************************Received on Fri Mar 26 2010 - 07:23:18 PDT
This archive was generated by hypermail 2.4.0 : Thu Aug 21 2025 - 16:31:40 PDT