(BDN) – More and more floating camps are popping up in Maine’s lakes, ponds and rivers.
These floating structures are not houseboats and many have no engine at all. They are similar to the camps you would see on land, except they float and are anchored to the bottom or tied to something on land. They have decks, planter boxes and a second story or vaulted ceilings.
Cool, right? Well, not quite.
The state says the floating camps block views of homes and camps on land, pose a pollution hazard and cause congestion at public docks and boat ramps. Some are even used as seasonal rental properties.
Because they’re not moored on land, these camps are outside the boundaries of private property and shoreline regulations that protect the water and fishing grounds from pollution. And because there’s no clear definition in Maine of what is and isn’t a boat, there’s no consensus on what regulations apply to the structures.
That could soon change, as the issue is expected to come up in the next session of Parliament, according to Mark Latti, spokesman for the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.
Unless regulations are put in place, the number of these offshore camps will continue to grow. And unless it’s a private lake or pond, there’s not much Maine can do about it.
A group involving several state agencies recognized the seriousness of the problem more than two years ago and presented a report with its recommendations to the Legislative Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry in the spring 2023 session of the 131st Legislature.
“The group recognized the need to define and regulate these non-water-dependent floating structures to protect Maine’s waters. This will require a collaborative approach involving the public, the legislature and various state agencies,” said Tim Peabody, DIF&W deputy commissioner.
In practice, Maine generally allows anything with a motor to be registered as a boat, although the state does not have a universal definition of a recreational boat. Houseboats, which have been legally allowed on Maine’s inland waters for decades, have a fairly firm definition and rely on being on the water.
“Watercraft are defined throughout Maine state law and there are multiple definitions of watercraft depending on where they are found,” Latti said.
The reason for this gap in state laws and regulations is primarily because authority over what happens on Maine’s waters is divided among several agencies.
The bottoms of lakes and ponds are under the jurisdiction of the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands. The water and its quality are under the jurisdiction of the Maine Department of Environmental Protection. Fish, wildlife and plants, and boats on inland waters are regulated by the Maine Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife. In unorganized areas, the Land Use Planning Commission has some say in what can be built where, but no enforcement power. If it is a tidal region, the Maine Marine Patrol is called in. The Land Use Planning Commission and the Maine Bureau of Parks and Lands both report to the Maine Department of Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry.
Confused yet?
In addition, towns on inland waters have the right to appoint a harbormaster to enforce municipal docking rules, but are dependent on the state to establish clear regulations for watercraft. This also brings the Maine Municipal Association and the Maine Harbormasters Association into play.
Some cities have established their own definitions for houseboats and floating camps, but they often lack the capacity to resolve disputes over use of lakes and ponds, and multiple cities may surround a body of water, a state report said.
Everyone has an interest in Maine’s lakes and ponds, but no one has the authority to remove a floating camp.
The challenge, says the report, submitted to the Legislative Committee on Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, is that there are “no clear violations of law or regulation for the unauthorised construction” of floating camps. If there is agreement that floating camps should not be allowed, “a clear prohibition in the law would enable the enforcement of that prohibition.”
It has identified two possible directions for legislation that it believes could be helpful.
The first, which the report recommends, would be to ban floating camps whose primary purpose is housing rather than navigation. This would require amending sections of other laws, rules and policies across several agencies to close loopholes. True houseboats would still be allowed, but would have to meet certain criteria regarding construction, size, navigation and environmental protection. This would change what is and is not registered as a motorboat.
The second option would be to establish a new program within an existing agency to oversee a permitting and enforcement system that regulates, but does not prohibit, floating storage facilities.
According to spokespeople for the Maine Departments of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife and Agriculture, Conservation and Forestry, there is currently no knowledge of any proposed legislation.
The multi-agency report distinguishes between floating structures that are not dependent on water and those that are dependent on water. A floating structure that is not dependent on water would be a floating warehouse, as it could also exist and function on land. Water-dependent structures include boats and true houseboats.
This distinction and the question of whether the floating object is used primarily as a habitation or navigational object for humans will play a crucial role in formulating definitions for boats, houseboats and floating camps.
DIF&W also proposes changes to the motorboat registration process to define and establish standards for legal houseboats to distinguish them from floating camps anchored in the water.
This change would make it more difficult for floating camps to register as boats and allow their owners to circumvent DEP regulations designed to protect the coastal environment.
It also proposes a clear definition of what can and cannot be registered as a boat.
