Marina Dock Age, March/April 2000

Marinas and Manufacturers are One Another’s Best Friends
by Ron Stone

An article by Dan Natchez, the distinguished international marina consultant, in last November’s Marina Dock Age, posited that marinas are the marine manufacturers’ best friends. No doubt about it! Marinas have the best vantage point for introducing people to the joys of boating. Providing a safe, secure, clean, and attractive environment for boat owners, newcomers, or seasoned skippers enhances the quality of the boating experience and is conducive to the sale of boats and associated equipment.  

This article makes the point that it’s a two-way street because marinas have a staunch ally and champion in the recreational marine manufacturing industry. Manufacturers are very mindful that the future success of the industry depends, to a large extent, on there being enough quality boat slips, moorings, dryland storage, and launch ramps to take care of not just the present-day fleet of more than 13 million recreational watercraft throughout the country, but projected growth of millions more for the next 10 to 15 years. That is a primary reason why manufacturers are making a concerted effort to look out for marina interests.  

Nowhere is this more evident than in the long-term strategic plan of the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) for the development, expansion, and preservation of recreational boating facilities.

In a plan approved by NMMA’s Marinas and Boat Access Committee, February 1998, the association pledged to assess the economic impact of marinas and other boating facilities, quantify supply and demand, press for enlightened policy at every level of government (including simplification of the permitting process), secure a national uniform policy for marina concessionaires on federally owned waters, and improve recognition that marinas are part of commerce and deserving of higher priority in the dredging of navigable waterways. The plan also envisions the establishment of recommended quality guidelines for marinas to ensure greater customer satisfaction and voluntary compliance with environmental best-management practices.  

To these ends, NMMA maintains a fulltime Marinas and Boat Access Division in its Washington, D.C., branch office. It is headed by Jim Frye, the energetic executive director of the Marina Operators Association (MOAA), an integral part of NMMA.

The Division is located in the nation’s capital to closely monitor legislative activity regarding water use management as it affects marinas. By maintaining liaisons with national coalitions and industry alliances, NMMA can be relied on to be at the forefront of efforts to protect marinas from undue restrictions and to preserve and improve boat access to public waters. For example, in the 1990s, NMMA was a big player in the defeat of congressional action that would have imposed unwarranted, prohibitive financial responsibility on marinas for oil spills, and denied federal emergency relief to marinas in the event of natural disasters. In the Clean Vessel Act of 1992, NMMA won federal grant entitlements for marinas to install and maintain boat sewage pump-out stations. In 1998, when this grants program was about to be sunset, the association was instrumental in getting it extended for another five years. That same year, in hammering out legislation to tap the augmented Wallop-Breaux Trust Fund for federal aid to states for facilities uniquely benefiting transient, non-trailer boats over 26 feet long, NMMA held out for allowing private marinas to share grants to build and maintain transient dockage.

To drive the point home to marinas that clean waters are good for business, NMMA created a traveling educational exhibit called Walk the Dock for Profits. It has been used at several NMMA-sponsored boat shows and received critical acclaim for teaching marina operators to follow recommended environmental best management practices.

A recent U.S. Department of the Interior sponsored study finds that lack of knowledge of existing boating facilities is one of the most important constraints to boating and fishing today, and recommends making more information available to the public. Continue »