Coronavirus prompts Manatee County to close all public boat ramps and Beer Can Island
Starting Thursday morning, boat ramps in Manatee County will be closed to the public to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, officials announced at a public meeting Tuesday morning.
The announcement comes just days after county officials made the decision to close public beaches. Over the weekend, however, visitors were seen boating in tight formation near Longboat Pass.
“I cannot emphasize enough the extent to which actions taken now will save lives later,” said Public Safety Director Jake Saur. “As we move forward, additional county and city area closures are needed.”
All public boat ramps throughout the county will be closed, as of 6 a.m. Thursday morning, Saur said. The closure also includes Beer Can Island. Public beaches remain closed, as well.
Saur explained that the decision to close the boat ramps came after a lengthy discussion with officials from all local municipalities. Commercial fishermen who need access to a county boat ramp are asked to use the south boat ramp on Coquina Beach, which will be monitored by Beach Patrol.
Commission Chair Betsy Benac was the only elected official physically present at Tuesday’s meeting. To comply with social distancing rules promoted by national health officials, other commissioners dialed in remotely.
“I’m glad we don’t have to close our parks because people need to get out and walk,” said Benac. “But you need to not congregate. I know that is contrary to human nature, especially in times of spring break and people want to hang out with their friends, but now is not the time to do it.”
“All are in agreement that these are the next steps needed to curb public gatherings,” Saur added.
‘People just want to get out’
The decision to close boat ramps caught Denise Kleiner by surprise. Kleiner, the concessionaire at Jiggs Landing, said cyclists, boaters and anglers had been using the park and maintaining the appropriate social distancing.
“People just want to get out. They want to have an open space. We do have signs saying keep your social distance. Everybody is following that here. There are no large gatherings. We have small groups of people. We have three seniors now in our pavilion with takeout,” Kleiner said.
At the Jiggs Landing boat ramp, William Perry was putting his boat in the water, and had not heard about the county’s decision to close boat ramps.
“I kind of understand, but I really don’t because there are no groups out here. With not a lot of things to do — with people out of work and everything — it seems kind of crazy to shut down recreational things that don’t affect the coronavirus as far as I am concerned,” he said.
Rental businesses react
After watching reports of boat ramps being closed following massive gatherings of boaters in Miami over the weekend, a similar announcement in Manatee County did not come as a complete surprise to Tanner Tischer, owner of Life Is Good Today pontoon boat rentals.
“It is disappointing to hear them say that,” Tischer said. “I realize for public safety reasons why they would do that.”
He acknowledged that there are always going to some “bad apples” who can’t consider their “civic responsibility” to follow social distancing guidelines. But boating, he argued, was one of the few things left for Manatee County residents to do outside.
County commissioners acknowledged Tuesday morning during their meeting that they had received many complaints and seen images of large gatherings by local boaters.
Tischer didn’t think it was a problem locally because the bodies of water and sandbars were large enough. He also thought that boating made the six-foot rule easy to abide by.
“Not a lot of people are really going to be congregating on the sandbars and even if they would, they would be doing so in the park and recreations, playgrounds and other areas like that,” he said.
Despite thinking the pandemic was being blown out of proportion, Tischer said he has been making sure his rental boats are kept clean and providing his customers with disinfectant wipes.
“But you close the public boat ramps down, and then you are going to tell people they can’t go outside. It’s going to invoke more fear in people and we don’t want to live in fear. This is America,” Tischer said. “It’s really, in my opinion, needless.”
This story was originally published March 24, 2020 at 9:41 AM.
