Sebago Water Safety Watch
Water Safety Newsletter #2, April 6, 2004
Dear Friends and Neighbors:
This is an update to inform you of recent and planned activities with regard to water safety issues on Sebago Lake.
A “core group” of concerned citizens consisting of Kim and John Manoush, Barbara Lovell and Pat Smith has been corresponding and meeting on the subject of safety and noise on Big Sebago. We have thus far established a mailing list of approximately 40 households, have met together several times and have met with town and state officials to try and find the best ways to make progress on these issues.
Briefly stated, there is not going to be any white knight or “magic bullet” that makes these problems go away overnight. Nonetheless, we feel that sustained action on our part has already helped move the agenda forward and will continue to do so with your help.
The remainder of this letter is divided into three sections:
1. A brief description of the current situation with respect to boat safety noise issues
2. A summary of progress to date
3. Future directions and our recommendations for our group
The Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife publishes and updates the “Boating Laws and Rules” each year. You can pick these up at the town hall or view them on the IFW web site http://www.state.me.us/ifw/rv/boatinglaws2003.htm (or just search: “Maine IFW”). There are sections that address Operating to Endanger, Imprudent Operation, Jet Ski Operation, Noise Limits, Reckless Operation and others that relate to our concerns. There is also a section on “harbor masters” that is relevant.
These regulations, along with the fishing regulations themselves, are enforced by just over 90 district game wardens over Maine’s 6,000-odd bodies of water (although any law enforcement person may enforce them). Since hunting and fishing licenses generate most of the department’s revenue, priority is given to enforcement of gaming regulations. This is why you stand a better chance of getting pulled over to check on your salmon catch than if you are speeding down the lake in a loud boat!
The regulations themselves are rather general, and enforcement relies heavily on the judgement of the Wardens in order to determine when boat operation might “endanger” or “harass” another person. “Headway speed” is required only within 200 feet of shore. Actual speed limits only exist on selected lakes, usually small ones. There are none on Sebago. Noise limits in decibels do exist, but they are quite high. The 90 dB limit allowed for a “stationary sound level test” is similar to that of a vacuum cleaner.
In the current budgetary climate, there is little hope of increased staffing for the Warden Service. This is not to say that it will do no good to complain, as we will explain in the last section.
Through the harbor master regulation, a town has the authority to appoint one or more qualified and trained individuals as harbor masters and may give those individuals authority to enforce safe boating regulations. This is a possible way that towns may exert more control over water safety, recognizing that IFW is spread too thin to respond in a timely fashion. This has already been accomplished with success in Naples. Some of the other towns on Big Sebago may have harbor masters, but none are currently doing patrols to our knowledge. We would like to encourage this approach.
· We have named ourselves “Sebago Water Safety Watch” and have drafted a preliminary mission statement.
· Our temporary “board of directors” (Barb, Pat, Kim and John) has met with several people to explore avenues to meet our goals. These have included:
ü Don Willard, Raymond town manager on Jan. 21
ü Denis Morse, Raymond Fire and Public Safety Chief on Jan. 29
ü Raina Bumpus, Naples harbor master on Jan. 31
ü Regional meeting on 2/25 organized by Neal Allen, Director of the Greater Portland Council of Governments. Attendees included Col. Tim Peabody, head of the Warden’s Service plus two wardens, Don Willard and Denis Morse from the Town of Raymond, representatives from the Lakes Environmental Association and from the Lake Region Safe Lakes Association, and about six of us from the Sebago Water Safety Watch.
ü Raymond Selectboard and Budget committee meetings in March.
Through these meetings we have acquired a deeper understanding of how the enforcement of safe boating rules works (or sometimes does not work) and we now have a clearer sense of how we, as concerned citizens, can help move this effort forward. Bottom line: it will not be easy or quick, but there are some things we can do.
1. Hold our first group meeting: We have scheduled a meeting for all interested citizens at the Raymond Public Safety building for Tuesday, June 1 at 6:30 PM. Agenda will be:
· Share the most current information.
· Break up into small groups to review our draft mission and recommend any changes to ensure we are focused on the right objectives. This is critical because many groups lose focus when trying to do too much at one time.
· Select an ongoing board of directors.
· Agree on next steps.
2. Support the Raymond Public Safety Boat: As mentioned in our January newsletter, Raymond acquired a beat-up 19 foot Proline Deep V Rescue Boat at very low cost. Thanks to repair work donated by Sabre Yachts and Jack Cooper it is now operational. Denis Morse has repeatedly stressed that the town’s purpose for having such a boat is to enable it to respond to emergencies and NOT primarily to enforce speed or noise regulations. We believe, however, that having an official presence on the lake would help deter violators much as a police car parked by the side of the road deters speeders. There is one person now training as a harbor master and we believe additional individuals will be trained over time. Denis has also indicated that the Public Safety budget will only cover training and responding to actual emergencies. We have said that our citizens group would like to see Raymond’s Public Safety Boat out on the water more than this, especially during times of peak activity on weekends and holidays. If we are willing to contribute funds for this purpose, Raymond has agreed to increase the hours during which the boat would be a visible presence on the lake this summer. Your temporary board of directors supports this goal and recommends we raise a minimum of $1,000 to contribute to the town for fuel and salaries. There will also be a need for volunteers to accompany the public safety person. We would like to develop a roster of names and set up a schedule for “patrolling”. We’re hoping to have enough volunteers so that each person would spend no more than two afternoons volunteering. This could also be a good way for all of us to learn firsthand what the issues are in dealing with water safety.
Denis has recently made contact with Frye Island and learned that they have a qualified harbor master already, but no rescue/patrol boat. They have reached a general agreement that Frye Island would contribute personnel and Raymond would contribute use of the boat to address mutual objectives of water safety. We support this positive development, and are also exploring the idea of adding Frye Island residents to our Water Safety Watch group.
We realize that some people may feel that they should not have to contribute private funds to get our government to do what they are supposed to do anyway. Unfortunately, the reality of the situation is that there are many other priorities for both state and town government, and that this is a particularly tough time for both levels of government budget-wise. We feel that a public-private partnership of the type we have outlined above is a worthwhile first step to move our agenda ahead. We are hopeful that a successful experience this first year will convince all of our town officials that a regular harbor master patrol is a worthwhile expenditure.
3. Encourage more enforcement by IFW: Enforcement of speed and noise regulations has been a low priority for IFW, but complaints from citizens can help raise the visibility of our concerns. We should all make it a point to take down descriptions, names and numbers (if possible) of boats that are operating to endanger or harass others and should call these in to the Warden Service. Please put the following numbers on your refrigerator and in your boat and cell phone so that you will call. If each of us calls at least once or twice per summer, we believe that IFW will eventually make enforcement of safe boating regulations on Sebago more of a priority. The important thing is not to be discouraged just because the situation is not corrected by a single call. The problem did not appear overnight and it will not be corrected overnight.
- John and Kim Manoush
Report Water Safety Complaints to:
OR the Maine State Police at: 800-482-0730. The police dispatcher will contact a warden “24 hours a day”