On Friday, Keefe Kaplan Maritime, Inc., or KKMI, will face off against the California Sportfishing Protection Alliance (CSPA) in federal court at a settlement hearing to resolve allegations made by CSPA that KKMI is violating the federal Clean Water Act and its discharge permit with the San Francisco Regional Water Control Board. This settlement conference follows nine months of fruitless negotiations to resolve the conflict. In its lawsuit, CSPA alleges that KKMI’s discharge of pollutants threatens or impairs the ability of its members to ” . . . fish, sail, boat, kayak, swim, bird watch and engage in scientific study . . .” in the Santa Fe Channel, where KKMI is located. In addition, CSPA alleges that KKMI is discharging more copper into the water than is allowable under California Toxics Rule guidelines, which they say is a violation of the terms of its discharge permit.
Neither of these claims withstands serious scrutiny, but the costs incurred by KKMI in defending itself will ultimately be borne by the boating public, adding to the costs of boat ownership in the Bay Area and beyond. By raising the costs of ownership, the CSPA lawsuit may very well prove to be counterproductive, undermining sportfishing, environmental stewardship, and water quality in and around the Bay Area. Furthermore, by filing such a lawsuit, CSPA may itself be violating the terms of its own nonprofit charter, which requires that it operate for the public good.
The first allegation, that KKMI impairs the use of the Santa Fe Channel, is nonsense. There is a kayak launch ramp open to the public immediately adjacent to KKMI, and nothing that KKMI does impairs the use of that ramp. For many years, we had a friend who lived aboard his boat in the Santa Fe Channel, and we sailed there many times to visit. The channel is, however, a deepwater port, and we have often had to wait for tugboats and large ships to clear the channel before being able to proceed.
The second allegation is more complicated, but KKMI has been notably forthright in documenting their discharges and submitting their data to the Regional Board. Hence, the governmental unit tasked with overseeing the discharge permit is fully aware of KKMI’s activities, and does not believe that KKMI is violating the law.
The Clean Water Act is a complicated piece of legislation, and complying with its requirements can be extremely challenging. However, KKMI has demonstrated a strong commitment to meeting the requirements of the law, and in many cases, sets the standard for environmental stewardship among boatyards in the Bay Area and across California.
Efforts to contact CSPA to better understand what they are trying to accomplish with their lawsuit were unsuccessful, but it’s our opinion that their actions have nothing to do with protecting either sportfishing or water quality. By raising the costs of boat ownership, they run the risk of undermining both of these professed goals.
Many of the resource management programs supported by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife are supported by fishing and big game licenses. If the cost of boat ownership becomes too prohibitive, the people who buy fishing licenses will stop buying, and the revenues used to manage fishery resources will be reduced. This will have a detrimental impact on fisheries and sportfishing.
Likewise, due to the increased costs of yard services at a yard that is continually striving to improve the environmental quality of its operations, boat owners may forego boatyard services altogether — or worse, give up sailing because it’s become too expensive. This would be unfortunate for many reasons, not least because well-maintained boats are invariably cleaner than boats that are poorly maintained. This will have a detrimental impact on water quality, and on the quality of the experience we sailors and boaters have when we are out on the water.
Ahead of the settlement hearing on Friday, February 15, we urge our readership to support KKMI in this matter. As sailors and stewards of our environment, let us hope that the parties reach an agreement.
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