More pain to come for boatowners
IT IS difficult not to have sympathy for those Guernsey boatowners and fishermen who will be affected by the harbour authority's decision to scrap the monthly mooring fee facility and instead demand an annual lump.
IT IS difficult not to have sympathy for those Guernsey boatowners and fishermen who will be affected by the harbour authority's decision to scrap the monthly mooring fee facility and instead demand an annual lump.
Many of those who use the marinas are ordinary locals who don't own gin palaces and who make many sacrifices so that they can continue to enjoy their boating. Therefore they bitterly resent continual attempts to make them pay more.
But at the same time, the States is rightly under pressure to make the most of taxpayer assets and it is clear from the Public Services Department's report on possible commercialisation of the ports that the main harbour is not well run.
Its consultants, Fisher Associates, has highlighted the huge demand for moorings – in excess of 1,000 seeking one – and this indicates that fees are substantially too low. No waiting list and empty pontoons would show the reverse.
Perhaps more significantly, Fisher says that charges for resident boatowners are 'relatively low' and marine leisure activity is subsidised by commercial users. That's another way of saying that non-boating taxpayers are losing money to support boaters, which cannot be right.
A clinical look at the situation highlights some other anomalies: there's no premium charged for berths offering better access and tides and owners with berths too big for their craft are not made to move or asked to pay an enhanced rate.
As Fisher says, 'many pontoons are over 20 years old, and a refurbishment programme is presently taking place. As the work is now being undertaken it is an appropriate time to consider increasing marina fees.'
Any such moves will be deeply unpopular and seen as an attack on a traditional Guernsey way of life. For that reason alone, boatowners could rely on a considerable degree of political support.
Now, however, those same deputies have agreed that there is a need to see whether the ports can be operated more commercially and therefore more efficiently.
It is clear from Fishers' work that they can and must – which means that there are going to be some very angry boatowners in the months ahead.
