Bellarine Times
Tuesday 15 March 2011
VOL 4. No 11
www.bellarinetimes.com.au
FREE WEEKLY
Outstanding Ocean Grove teenager, Samantha Cain, was the star of the show at the weekend’s State Surf Life Saving Championships at Lakes Entrance. Cain won seven gold medals to spearhead a brilliant Ocean Grove team performance. See full story on Page 112.
HIGH AND DRY
Boat owners face eight-fold increase in Queenscliff Harbour fees as moratorium ends
BY ALISON MARTIN RECREATIONAL boat users left ‘high and dry’ by exorbitant increases in harbour fees at Queenscliff are now waiting to see if they will secure a more affordable mooring. A moratorium on fees, offered by the privately operated Queenscliff Harbour for a two-year period to existing harbour users, is over and for many the new fees are, as predicted, ‘unaffordable’. Several commercial fishermen have already left the harbour and a number of recreational boat owners have been forced out because of the increased fees. A Queenscliff resident who has docked his boat at the harbour for more than 10 years, said there were
Surf Forecast
several concerns for boat owners, who had initially been promised a better deal. “We’re not blaming the harbour‌ that’s private enterprise and they are entitled to charge what they want,â€? he said. “But we’ve been let down by Parks (Victoria). The parameters that were set down when Parks wanted our support for the new harbour was that we’d only have to pay two to three times as much. “We had been paying $800 a year to keep our boat in the harbour but now the moratorium has been lifted, if we stayed in the harbour we’d have to pay $6,400‌ it’s just too much money. “Now we’re waiting for a pole mooring (to be constructed by Parks Victoria as a cheaper alternative
to a harbour mooring) but there are up to 35 boats needing a place and only 28 pole moorings.â€? The boat owner, who did not wish to be named, said wooden boats, including Queenscliff’s heritage couta fleet, would be given priority because they needed to be kept in the water, but there were also local people with fibreglass boats who could miss out on a mooring . “What they’ve allowed to happen at the harbour is really affecting us‌ and there are locals who are getting on in years and won’t be able to use a pole mooring because they will have trouble getting a dingy out there,â€? the boat owner said. “I really feel for those who have had their boat at the harbour for 30 years or more and now they’re
retired they can’t afford the new fees and they’ll just give up... sell their boat. “For those of us who will try to get a pole mooring, we just hope they will remain under Parks control because otherwise if they became private, they could charge anything.� He said despite Parks’ assurance that pole moorings would not be privatised, harbour users were wary because of the Fisherman’s pier situation. “Fisherman’s pier was not part of the plan in the start when it was signed-off, but then all of sudden it was part of the development area,� he said. The Borough of Queenscliff will host an information session at Queenscliff’s Senior Citizens Hall this Saturday, March 19 at 10am.
WED 2ft+ building SW 18° THU 3-5 average SW 18° FRI 2-3ft easing S/SW 19° SAT 3ft+ building NE 19°
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