Georgia Anchoring Locations Impacted or Eliminated By James H. Newsome

By James H Newsome

Georgia’s coastal waters were unrestricted and all open to anchoring prior to the state legislature passing House Bill 201, which went into effect on January 1, 2020. HB201 and subsequent boating law “O.C.G.A. 57-7- 8.4(d) authorizes the Department (DNR) to establish anchoring areas within the estuarine areas of this state as well as areas where anchoring is not allowed.”

Following Georgia DNR Commission Mark Williams’ Administrative Order (AO) establishing anchoring restrictions within distances of 1000’ from all structures, docks, recreational and commercial shellfish areas, Save Georgia’s Anchorages (SGA) conducted an analysis of Georgia’s favorite anchoring locations to determine the impact on anchoring in the state’s coastal waters.

Using data from the popular navigation and guide services Active Captain, Waterway Guide, and Cruisers’ Net, 150 unique anchoring locations were identified and overlaid with DNR maps of the restricted areas. A total of 92 (61%) of popular anchoring locations are impacted or eliminated with 34 (23%) negatively impacted and 58 (39%) essentially eliminated. Of these 92 anchorages impacted or eliminated, the overriding cause was the presence of a structure or docks (74%), followed by commercial shellfish beds (18%) and recreational shellfish beds (8%).

The full impact on anchoring in areas not designated as popular anchoring locations is immeasurable. Visit Save Georgia’s Anchorages at https://www.facebook.com/ groups/SaveGeorgiasAnchorages/files/ for a full list of impacted and eliminated popular anchoring locations. Commissioner Williams AO and an interactive map of

Photo taken by Craig Rowdon at Fort Frederica anchorage on St. Simon's Island, GA, with his Corbin 39 s/v Grace in the background anchored in the Frederica River.

restricted anchoring locations can be accessed at GA’s DNR web site https://coastalgadnr.org/liveaboards SOUTHWINDS will continue to follow developments in this important issue and will provide updates in future publications.

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