For immeadiate RELEASE

What: Santa Rosa Yacht Club Secures Clean Marina Designation

When: Wednesday, August 14, 2002, 10:00 am

Where: Santa Rosa Yacht Club, north end of Bob Sikes Bridge, Gulf

Breeze

Santa Rosa Yacht Club, located at the northern end of the Bob Sikes Bridge in Gulf Breeze, is the first marina facility in Santa Rosa County to achieve recognition under the state’s Clean Marina Program.

Santa Rosa Yacht Club is the Panhandle’s first “dockominium,” where 129 dry storage slips and 40 wet slips are individually owned by members. Even though the slips are privately owned, some are available for month-to-month rentals and transient or cruising boats are welcomed. A fuel dock offering gas and diesel as well as pump-out facilities is also available to the public.

The facility was redeveloped on the site of the former Mel’s Marina and is protected from the elements on three sides by a rock jetty, a steel seawall and the Gulf Breeze shoreline.

According to Harry Moore, President of the club’s board of directors, the facility was conceived and developed in full accord with the basic concepts of Florida’s Clean Marina Program.

“Although we weren’t fully aware of all the requirements of the program during construction and initials operation, we found that our environmental concerns and operational concept fit perfectly with the Clean Marina Program. We really had very little to do to prepare for the Clean Marina inspection and passed it with flying colors!”

Moore added that the yacht club’s board remains fully committed to the Clean Marina Program. “We recognized from the very beginning that the concept of ownership in the facility would enhance the desire of individual boaters to maintain a pristine, upscale family yacht club. When we learned of the Clean Marina Program, we immediately realized that membership in the program would be a great benefit to our yacht club. Other local boaters, as well as cruising boats, have a natural desire to seek out facilities that display a high level of environmental commitment. We believe they will use the Clean Marina Program as a yardstick in choosing among available facilities.”

FLORIDA’S CLEAN MARINA PROGRAM

There are nearly 2,000 marinas operating in Florida today and hundreds of thousands of boaters use Florida’s waters every day. According to the Marine Industries Association of Florida, boating is a $10.2 billion dollar water intensive industry that includes marinas, boatyards and boaters. The effects of year-round boating activities contribute to constant and growing pressure on the state’s fragile aquatic and marine ecosystems. Clean water is essential to this multi-billion dollar industry.

The aim of the Clean Marina Program (CMP) is prevention. Marinas and boaters may not be aware of the environmental laws, rules and jurisdictions with which they must comply. Compound that with the reality that environmental and operational problems are usually addressed after they happen rather than anticipated.

The goal of CMP is Clean Marina Designation. Designation lets boaters that use the marina know that these businesses adhere to - - or exceed program criteria, including Marina Environmental Measures or MEMs. MEMs are simple, innovative solutions to day-to-day marina operations that protect the environment. These MEMs have been developed through examination of best management practices around the country and the partnership of Florida’s marinas, boatyards, boaters and government.

Voluntary participation, "pier" pressure and desire to do environmentally conscious activities and reinforcement of current regulatory processes are the common elements. This approach provides opportunities for public and private entities to work together, as well as, provide incentives and remove institutional roadblocks to wise resource stewardship. The text of these documents were written by the Department of Environmental Protection with intensive cooperative efforts of the Marine Industries Association of Florida, marine professionals throughout Florida and the United States, Florida SeaGrant, Boat US/Clean Water Trust, International Marina Institute, Florida Council of Yacht Clubs and local agencies.