Interlux Initiates
Waterfront Challenge

Interlux Yacht Finishes of Union, New Jersey, is offering $60,000 in grants for organizations that submit ideas to create sustainable waterfront environmental improvements in their communities. Bob Donat, VP of Marketing for Interlux, described the program as “one that empowers the boating community to preserve the one thing we have in common–water.” The program is called The Waterfront Challenge and entries will be accepted from April 1 until November 5, and the grants–one for each of seven regions plus a grand prize–will be awarded at the Miami International Boat Show in 2009. To make this a real grassroots campaign, clubs and groups as small as three friends or family members may submit improvement plans. The possibilities are endless: if you see a need and can develop a plausible solution, you can enter the challenge. Step-by-step entry directions and suggestions are available at wfchallenge.com, or contact the director, Dr. Douglas Bernon, at 401-855-2351.

Say Goodbye to TBT
The Bahamas recently joined more than two dozen nations that have signed a treaty banning the use of tributyltin (TBT) on boat hulls. The U.S. and Canada are expected to follow suit. President Bush sent the Treaty to the U.S. Senate in January. The International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships was adopted by the International Maritime Organization in 2001 with the provision it would go into effect a year following ratification by 25 member countries with 25 percent of the world’s cargo tonnage. That number was reached when Panama signed the treaty last fall, meaning the ban will be in force beginning September 17, 2008. Regardless of whether or not the U.S. signs, owners of U.S.-flagged vessels traveling to the Bahamas are advised to make sure their bottom paint is compliant. Antigua & Barbuda were among the first signers of the treaty. The EU, in a separate agreement, banned TBT-painted ships from entering its ports regardless of flag from January 1 of this year.

South Carolina Tax, Part II
As reader Jim Bricker pointed out in a letter appearing in January’s issue, South Carolina recently instituted several tax changes that included levying a property tax on vessels kept in that state’s waters for more than 60 consecutive days. Now comes word that after some intense lobbying by marina operators a bill has been introduced to the state legislature to change that provision of the law to applying after 180 consecutive days, a big help to snowbirds who like to winter in Charleston, Hilton Head, Beaufort, or Myrtle Beach, but not much fun for South Carolina’s resident boat owners. If you like to spend time in South Carolina’s coastal waters, make sure you ask your marina operator what the latest ruling is on the property tax grace period.

First New “Slips” in Broward
Broward County, Florida, will soon see its first new boat slips in more than four years, with the county’s newly-issued permit to build 176 new dry-stack storage slips at Harbour Towne Marina in Dania Beach.

The new dry-stack project is the first new commercial marina facility permitted in Broward County since 2004 when the county began enforcing a moratorium on new commercial boat slips, pending the adoption of the Broward County Boating Facility Siting Plan, as part of a greater Manatee Protection Plan.

The new dry-stack project will be an environmentally friendly facility located on the Dania Cutoff Canal and accommodate recreational boats up to 42 feet in length, according to Gary Groenewold of Westrec Marinas.