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California’s Boating and Fishing News
Founded in 1971
NO. 1153 APRIL 30 - MAY 13, 2021 WRITE TO:
P.O. Box 1337 Newport Beach, CA 92659 (949) 660-6150 (800) 873-7327 Fax (949) 660-6172
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Julie Hogan
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Mary Monge
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J.R. Johnson, Catherine French, David Weil Publisher Duncan McIntosh, Jr. duncan@thelog.com
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LEGAL ADVICE ask a maritime attorney
By David Weil
What is the protocol for buying an unregistered unfinished boat?
QUESTION: I am considering buying a 39-foot sailing yacht that was built from a kit on a vacant lot. The boat was never completed or put in the water, and it has been stored on private property since the death of the owner five years ago. The property was recently sold, and the new owners of the property would like to get rid of the boat to make room for the house that they plan to build. Unfortunately, no title paperwork appears to exist for the boat, I don’t think it has ever been documented or registered, and there is no hull identification number. Under these circumstances, can the property owners legally sell the boat to me? If I go forward with the purchase will I be able to document the boat with the Coast Guard once I’ve completed construction?
ANSWER: The purchase of an unfinished boat that has never been registered is similar to the purchase of any other type of unregistered personal property. If you buy a refrigerator at a garage sale you don’t really know whether the person selling the property has the right to sell it, so you look at as much of the surrounding information as you can, and you pull the trigger if you think it all looks ok.
For a boat, the biggest questions would involve how and why the boat is unregistered, and whether the circumstances of the sale are such that the person who is selling the boat appears to have a legitimate right to sell the boat. The most significant risks faced by a potential buyer would be that the person selling the boat is fraudulently in possession and therefore has no right to sell it; and that the real owner will show up some day and claim that the purchase should be voided. For the most part this is not a legal inquiry. It is instead a research project that the buyer must complete through investigation of the surrounding facts.
For our reader, the purchase seems pretty safe. With all due
See ATTORNEY page 11
Dog Aboard
Is your pet as avid a boater as you? Send The Log pictures of your four-legged first mate. Email your photo, contact information and a description about your pet and boat to thelogeditor@thelog.com
A Paw-some Cruise Mate
Sadie Lou, an Australian Shepard, cruises on Dan and Michelle Ramirez’s 40-foot Carver in San Diego bay.
Pup-noculars
Friends might recognize this pup on the lookout. Even though she can’t see as well as she used to, Toto, a 17-year-old border terrier, keeps an eye on the water. Mike and Linda Haakenson said she has gone to every local island on dive trips.
DISSOLVED
Reducing copper levels in marinas across Southern marinas across Southern California has been a renewed goal of the State renewed goal of the State Water Resources Control Board; some regions have been at it for years and others are poised to face new regulations in the coming years, what progress has been made and what’s the future of copper regulations?
By: LINDSEY GLASGOW
A More Than Decade Long Battle with More Efforts on the Horizon
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA— Reducing copper levels in Southern California marinas from boat hull paint has been a years-long battle. Many believe it is one that is likely to continue until the industry and boating community find a paint alternative that can keep growth off and is cost effective.
“From our perspective and with over a decade of involvement in this issue, we believe that there needs to be more emphasis at an industry level to truly see a change in paints and alternative paint use,” said Karen Holman, Port of San Diego director of environmental protection, in an email. “A balance is needed, that takes into account water quality, beneficial uses of bays and harbors, copper and alternative paints, and in-water hull cleaning strategies that ensure boating remains an economically viable recreational pastime.”
San Diego’s Shelter Island Yacht Basin was the first area in Southern California to have a total maximum daily load policy (TMDL) for copper due to the water body having significantly higher dissolved copper levels than the state regulatory limit of 3.1 mg/L. The TMDL puts a limit on the amount of pollutant a receiving water body can accept in order to protect its beneficial uses. Marina del Rey now also has a TMDL requirement due to similarly high levels of copper.
Copper is a common component in hull paint as it repels marine organisms which attach themselves to boat bottoms and can significantly slow the vessel, alter maneuverability, and damage the hull. However, it can leach into marina basins impairing water quality and threatening the health of aquatic systems. The state still allows copper-based paints that are registered with and meet the Department of Pesticide Regulation registration requirements for pesticide usage. High leach rate paints, those with 9.5 micrograms per square centimeter per day or more, were required to be phased out by 2020.
The future of copper regulations in other locations, such as Newport Bay and Ventura and Los Angeles counties, are poised to ramp up over the course of the next four years. Reducing copper levels in these areas has been named as a priority for 2020 through 2025 by both the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board and Santa Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Every five years the State Water Resources Control Board publishes a Nonpoint Source Implementation Plan identifying priority projects to reduce water pollution in the state’s rivers, streams, lakes, beaches, bays, and groundwater. The state’s Nonpoint Source Implementation Plan for 2020-2025 includes plans to implement a TMDL policy for Newport Bay, which is expected to come out before summer, and streamlining regulations across all saltwater marinas in all of Los Angeles and Ventura counties in the same manner as Marina del Rey Harbor.
“We want to maintain the consistency in our regulation, that’s really the main purpose of treating every harbor in the same manor,” said Jun Zhu, a senior environmental scientist and TMDL section chief for the Los Angeles Regional Water Quality Control Board.
Since the NPS Implementation Plan was released, the Marine Recreational Association has continued to raise concerns about the blanket approach to copper controls and has been involved in continuing discussions with the Los Angeles water board about the plan.
“You got marinas that aren’t an issue, why would you blanket us all with the same rules and requirements? That, from my perspective I think is unfair,” said Mark Sandoval, a past president of MRA and current Channel Islands Harbor Director.
Another goal listed in the NPS Implementation Plan is to adopt a conditional waiver of Waste Discharge Requirement for the discharge of biocides from
