Marina Dock Age, March 2004

Is Your Marina Compliant with Federal Security Measures?
by Dennis P. Kissman

As we all know, the government plays a huge role in the day-to-day lives of marina owners and operators across the nation. New legislation makes it necessary for us to sequester ourselves to sort through the “legalese.” and figure out exactly what we need to do in order to remain in compliance. Even though we may question a law’s validity or applicability, we trust that our government has our safety and best interests in mind.

Recently, we dealt with a compliance issue by completing a Facility Security Plan (FSP) for one of our marinas. The new FSP regulation was handed down by the Department of Homeland Security, and is being enforced by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) and the Coast Guard (USCG). It’s designed to provide all U.S. ports with three flexible security plans that can be adjusted during the three maritime security levels (Green, Orange, and Red). The initiative requires marina managers to develop security plans based on a security assessment, and then implement these measures to identify and deter terrorist activity.

How to find out

We were fortunate enough to have the Marine Industry Association of South Florida (MIASF) stay on top of the regulations. This afforded us enough time to get the proper information submitted. The rest of the nation was not so fortunate. The federal government estimates approximately 5,000 U.S. port facilities (commercial and recreational) meet the requirements to submit a Facility Security Plan, but only 1,100 made the December 31, 2003, deadline.

There was clearly a communication problem with the legislation. At an MIASF meeting in November, out of approximately 50 active industry people attending, only 10 had heard of the regulations. Supposedly, a grass-roots campaign was to inform the public about the need to comply; obviously it was not effective in reaching the target audience (e.g. marinas, boatyards and yacht management companies). In addition, the information that was available did not clarify which facilities needed to comply, or what was involved in compliance. The problem then became that those fortunate enough to have heard about the regulations were confused about compliance procedures. Only after several lengthy question-and-answer sessions with USCG and TSA representatives were we able to determine that a security plan for one of our marinas must be developed.   Continue »