‘It was a hassle.’ Manatee boaters say closing boat ramps didn’t help limit COVID-19
Boat ramps in Manatee County are officially open again after the Board of County Commissioners voted 4-3 Friday afternoon to overturn an order made by the director of public safety to help limit the spread of COVID-19.
The county’s Public Works staff worked throughout the morning on Monday to remove concrete barriers and once again allow access to the boat ramps, which had been closed for two weeks. While the county had promised to open the ramps up by 3 p.m., all of them were open again by early afternoon.
Commissioners Priscilla Whisenant Trace, Misty Servia, Reggie Bellamy and Vanessa Baugh voted to re-open the boat ramps, arguing that it could help low-income residents feed their families by fishing. They also felt it was unfair to restrict the public ramps, because those with private docks were still able to boat freely.
“If we could keep every boat off the water, that’d be one thing, but there’s too many boats on the water,” Commissioner Priscilla Whisenant Trace said Friday. “I also know a lot of people who said they would’ve gone out and caught enough fish to take care of their neighbors and everybody.”
The recommendation to restrict access came from Public Safety Director Jake Saur and the Emergency Policy Group, which is made of top officials from local municipalities and law enforcement agencies. Closing the ramps could help limit the spread of the novel coronavirus, especially after a large gathering of boaters was observed on and near Beer Can Island in late March.
“My hope is after the action by the board, the public continues to heed the message to social distance,” Saur said after the county’s vote on Friday. “It’s unfortunate, at a pivotal point in our fight against COVID-19, that we could possibly send a mixed message that now is the time for the public to be at home. They should only be out for essential business.”
Several boaters had already taken advantage of the re-opened ramp at Warner’s Bayou Monday afternoon. Aaron Welch II, an oyster farmer with Two Docks Shellfish, said it was disappointing to see the county lock down the ramps, because it had an adverse effect on commercial fishermen.
“It was a hassle. I didn’t think it was necessary for weekend warriors to be out boating, but closing all the ramps hurt the charters and commercial fishermen,” Welch said.
Without easy access to a boat ramp, Welch said he had to rely on private docks to get out and check his oyster farms near the Sunshine Skyway Bridge. With access, boating was still possible, but it had a disproportionate effect on low-income boaters.
“It kind of outlawed poor people from boating,” he said.
Ricky Reyes, another boater at Warner’s Bayou, said he didn’t think closing the boat ramps was the right answer, either. Instead, the county should have closed gathering spots like Jewfish Key and Beer Can Island.
“The islands should still be closed, but we’ve got a lot of water here. People should be able to go fishing or tubing or whatever,” he said. “If people want to gather like that, that’s on them.”
