If you’re a boater, Sea Grant can use your help. If you are a reader of this column, you know that our waters are suffering from too many nutrients, the various forms of insults that lead to devastating red tide events and other harmful algae blooms (HABS). Florida Sea Grant has launched a survey for the recreational boating community to address discharges from vessels, one of those problems.
According to Victoria Gambale, Clean Vessel Act education coordinator, “This survey is part of a needs assessment that will help determine what educational programming and resources are developed and implemented. It will also be used with other data to determine what and where additional sewage waste disposal resources (pump outs and port-a-potty dump stations) are needed.”
This survey is for anyone who boats recreationally in Florida. The boater can own or rent, and the boat does not need to have a head for the boater to participate in the survey. Although the survey’s primary target is recreational boaters, any commercial boater who serves recreational purposes (like charters, sightseeing tours, etc.) can also participate in the survey.
The survey is estimated to take about 10 minutes or less and is anonymous – they don’t ask for your name, address, phone number, or email. They do ask for your home zip code for analysis purposes.
Information the survey asks for includes questions about your boat, sewage discharge laws, your opinion about pump out and dump station equipment, where you dispose of sewage waste, where you find boating information, standard demographic questions and a few others.
This survey has an “if-then” logic model, so you’re not asked questions that are irrelevant to you. For example, if your boat has an installed toilet with a holding tank, you won’t be asked about port-a-potty dump stations.
Your response is confidential and only accessible to project researchers at the University of Florida. Your response will only be shared once compiled with other respondents.
As part of a comprehensive needs assessment, Florida Sea Grant is also looking at boating infrastructure in the state. More specifically, they are looking to determine how many recreational boats have direct access to the water in each county. They are then comparing that to how many sewage disposal resources (pump outs and port-a-potty dump stations) are available.
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Clean Vessel Act Technical Guidelines recommend “As a general guide, at least one pump out station and dump station should be provided for every 300 to 600 boats over 16 feet length overall.” Florida Sea Grant will be using this study to determine if this general guideline is still appropriate, and, if not, to develop a new guideline to target counties in Florida that do and do not meet the guideline.
Based on the results of the needs assessment, they will focus efforts to promote the installation of sewage disposal resources where they are most needed.
Data collection for the study will be completed by June 2024 or earlier, depending on participation rates. Once all the data is collected, it will be reviewed for quality control and analysis. When that is completed, the results will be written up in a report. It is expected that the report will be available by September 2024. The report will be published on Florida Sea Grant’s Clean Boating webpage.
If you’d like to be notified when the report is available or would like more information, please email Gambale at v.gambale@ufl.edu or call 352-562-1134.
Boater survey promotional materials include a poster, postcard and social media graphics and text if you would like to spread the word about the survey.
To keep our waters healthy, we need the help of everyone who enjoys these natural wonders and whose livelihoods depend on them. Most importantly we owe it to future generations so that they too can enjoy their bounty, both spiritually and economically.
