Community Information 
Maps
Marine Info
Weather
Yacht Clubs & Marinas
|
Community Information
Maps
Marine Info
Weather
Yacht Clubs & Marinas
|
The name says it all ! Once a "Fair Haven" for the great whaling fleet, Today it's a "Fair Haven" for a fishing fleet, a marine repair industry and a large recreational sailing and boating community. Fairhaven shares the west side of the Hurricane Barrier protected New Bedford-Fairhaven Inner Harbor.
A well marked 8-mile approach, on the northwestern side of Buzzards Bay, guides you through the two massive gates that flank the 150 foot opening of the Hurricane Barrier into a well protected New Bedford-Fairhaven Inner Harbor... The 4,600 foot long barrier protects the the town of Fairhaven on the east, and the city of New Bedford on the west...
Fairhaven Harbor Master Gary Golas reminds owners of moorings in Fairhaven to register with the town by filling out an application at the Selectmen's office. There is no fee to register, but boat owners who place a boat on a mooring must pay a $10 fee for a boat sticker. According to Golas, most moorings are concentrated in six areas -- east of Sconticut Neck in Little Bay, off the Seaview Avenue boat ramp, off West Island, and in the inner harbor off Fort Street, Crow Island, and north of the Route 6 bridge. "We have a particularly difficult job attempting to identify the owners of some old moorings off the Coast Guard Auxiliary docks near Crow Island," said Golas. "I have been working closely with John Simpson (director of the New Bedford Harbor Development Commission) in finding those mooring owners."
If mooring owners do not come forward, Golas said they may lose their mooring permit and the mooring will be removed. Golas has charted and entered the locations of most Fairhaven moorings into a database.
The Fairhaven harbormaster's office now has large-scale reference charts in town hall to locate and identify all mooring locations as well as potential new mooring fields. Golas received a grant from the Massachusetts Coastal Zone Management office last season to help chart the town's moorings.
In January, the Board of Selectmen voted to do away with the ten dollar a year boat mooring permit and adopt a more controversial “waterway user fee” based on $1 a foot for residents and $3 a foot for non-residents. The public hearings on the issue brought out many folks who disagreed with the new fees. However, as summer rolled along, it was evident the majority of boaters paid the new fees, including commercial fishermen. The new Waterways User Fees are deposited into the town’s Waterways Improvement Fund and directly benefits town boaters with dredging and maintenance projects, fire, emergency, police security, boater education, environmental protection and harbor management services. In fact, a major dredging project has been undertaken in the harbor and is opening the channel depths to more deeper draft vessels from Union Wharf, to D.N.Kelley Shipyard, Linberg Marine, Acushnet River Safe Boating Club and all the way north to the Middle Street Boat Ramp. The dredging will continue for another couple of years. The boat waste pump out service continues to operate very successfully. While a political decision was made this year to stop providing pump out services to boats on the New Bedford side of the harbor, we serviced over 404 boats in Fairhaven with 11,560 gallons of waste treated through the town’s treatment facility. It was also the second season in offering West Island boaters the same service and more boaters appear to be taking advantage of this unique service. The harbormaster’s office is looking forward to another safe and busy 2006 boating season.
Anatomony of An Oil Spill 2003 - Bouchard No. 120
**designates Mass. Criminal Justice Training Council and Massachusetts Maritime Academy Certified Harbormaster
