WORCESTER COUNTY, Md. -- Discussions among county officials could lead to limits being placed on who can, and cannot, launch their boats from public boat ramps. Fishermen are worried this could put them in a sticky situation.
The public boat ramps in the county are meant to be used by, well, the public. Signs at several of these ramps explicitly state commercial use is not allowed. What the signs don't elude to, is what falls under the category of commercial use.
It's what conversations at the county level aim to clear up.
"People who repair boats or sells boats, any kind of individual small boats that take a small group of people fishing," said Ted Elder, a Worcester County Commissioner.
If the latter is defined as commercial use, Vince Cannuli will not be happy.
"If the county is going to define commercial use as any of my ventures as commercial fishing or recreational for hire fishing, it puts me at odds," said Cannuli. "Where else am I going to launch my boat?"
Cannuli is a recreational angler, commercial fisherman and recreational for hire captain. Because his ventures cross over between commercial and recreational use, he's worried if stricter limits are enforced, he'll be in a tough situation.
"The only other options I'm aware of is to seek private assistance from one of the local marinas and pay them a fee," said Cannuli.
He also stated that often times, people using the ramps for commercial purposes are in and out quickly, and usually are using the same size boats at the public.
"I'm not using the ramps as an industrial use loading heavy equipment, I'm using it to launch my boat like many of the other boats that are used there everyday," said Cannuli.
Worcester County Commissioner Joe Mitrecic said he is not on board with limiting, or stopping people from accessing the water.
"In a sense, a little bit I think this is target legislation," said Mitrecic. "I don't want it to jeopardize any chances of us getting federal or state funding in the future."
Mitrecic, similar to Cannuli, also believes commercial boats don't cause a lot of trouble, if any, at public boat ramps.
"Some of these commercial operators, we were just here just a second ago, one of our bulk headers here in town loaded up his work platform and was out of here in seconds," said Mitrecic. "It was basically a pontoon boat, so why should we be charging this gentlemen to come in and out and do the work for the citizens."
When speaking with Worcester County Commissioners about this issue, there is a divide among the group. At least two are firmly behind the new rules, while other are staunchly against.
It is unclear if this topic will be on the agenda of the next Worcester County Commissioners meeting on April 18th.
