Park Service sues Florida boat dealer

[LuckyLady]

Regulatory Review
Park Service sues Florida boat dealer

Boating Industry
Tuesday February 24, 2009


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MANATEE COUNTY, Fla. – The National Park Service filed a federal lawsuit against Marlow Marine Sales in Palmetto, Fla., this month for an incident that occurred in 2006 when a 72-foot yacht from the dealership, bound for the Miami Boat Show, ran aground and allegedly damaged an environmentally sensitive area, the Sarasota Herald Tribune reported in a story yesterday.

The "Rebel Yell" strayed from a deep channel in Everglades National Park and ran aground on Arsenic Bank. After several days of trying to float it off the sandbar, crew members powered the yacht over it, plowing a channel through the shoal and tearing up sea grass in the sensitive preservation area and causing at least $240,000 in damage, according to the story.
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The owner of the yacht, boat dealer David Marlow, is contesting the $240,000 in damages. In court paperwork, he argues that the yacht's crew was acting with care when it ran aground, and navigational aids in the waterway were deficient and negligently maintained, the newspaper reported.

The lawsuit is the second filed in Florida's federal courts in the past year seeking hefty damages against boat owners accused of tearing up sea grass. In the other case, the government is seeking $600,000 in damages from a boat owner who ran aground near Key West in 2003, according to the story.


....Pay attention to the top of the Magazine page.. Thats her on the cover

[g_max_2003@hotmail.com]

i am from trinidad in the caribbean and the environmental laws are a little bit more leniant here but i could never understand how boat owners could be fined environmental damagaes for accidental groundings. i mean if the captain was drunk that is another case. but the environmental agencies need to look more carefully into the case before fining captains because accidents do happen. this is like asking a bleeding person to clean up after themselves, t foolish

[LuckyLady]

i am from trinidad in the caribbean and the environmental laws are a little bit more leniant here but i could never understand how boat owners could be fined environmental damagaes for accidental groundings. i mean if the captain was drunk that is another case. but the environmental agencies need to look more carefully into the case before fining captains because accidents do happen. this is like asking a bleeding person to clean up after themselves, t foolish

My thoughts exactly.. I tried googling it to see if I could find more info on the incident itself but I didn't find anything...All about money that's all!

Next thing we know we all will be getting fines if a dog pees on their grass and it turns yellow

[g_max_2003@hotmail.com]

My thoughts exactly.. I tried googling it to see if I could find more info on the incident itself but I didn't find anything...All about money that's all!

Next thing we know we all will be getting fines if a dog pees on their grass and it turns yellow

im sure that the average storm does more damage to the sea grass than the boat did , i mean its nature it regenerates itself. i fully understand shipping companies being charged to clean up after an oil spill, but i bet those rangers couldnt find or notice the damged sea grass unless they had it marked on a gps

[Deep C]

Hell the water cops in this state probably moved the markers on purpose