Boat deck runoff may require permit at end of year

Ely Bruce washes the deck of his boat, the Sweet Bucket, Tuesday in Cut Off.

Local shrimpers and owners of smaller commercial vessels around the country could need a new permit by the end of the year to wash their decks.

No matter if its your uncles outboard-powered trawler or an ocean-faring cargo giant, there is an inevitable exchange of water from the decks or hold with the waterway below.

These discharges are regulated by the Clean Boating Act passed in 2008, which requires deck runoff and water used to clean various holds inside the boat be tested for contaminants before being dumped overboard.

These rules are particularly important for large vessels whose ballast water transfers have been blamed for spreading invasive species. Smaller vessels have been exempt from the law thanks to a moratorium for boats less than 79 feet long.

But that moratorium expires Dec. 19, and legislation that would extend it is stalled in Congress.

Paul Adams is one local boat owner who doesnt see an urgent need for such a regulation on the smaller vessels.

Everything we bring to clean is biodegradable and we use water from under the boat, said Adams, as he prepared to pilot his trawler back into the marsh from Dulac. People are struggling out here to make it and the politicians are making it harder.

The permit will dictate practices for discharges that take place in the regular operation of the boat. These include rules addressing anti-foulant hulls, coating leachate, bilgewater, ballast water, deck runoff, fish hold effluent and gray water, among others things.

Deck water is the most basic of these discharges. It is defined in the law as the precipitation, washdowns and seawater falling on the weather deck of a vessel and discharged overboard through deck openings.

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Boat deck runoff may require permit at end of year