Bimini Basin now has new regulations

Lee County leaders are cracking down on abandoned boats and those living on the water at Bimini Basin.

During Tuesday’s Lee County commissioners meeting, an anchoring limitation area was approved for the Bimini Basin, now allowing Cape Coral city leaders to take action on the basin.

Some boaters will like these new limitations, but chances are those who make Bimini Basin their home will not.

WINK News learned that most of the boats on the basin don’t ever move. That will soon change with the new authority measures that can now take place, thanks to Lee commissioners.

WINK News Reporter Olivia Jean met Blain Daugherty, who spends a lot of time on Bimini Basin.

He loves to kayak.

“It’s just a nice place to be,” Daugherty said.

While it is a place he enjoys, he said there are lots of problems.

“It was so unregulated. If there’s no harbor master to control, who is out here? I mean, who’s out here? You don’t know who these people are?” Daugherty said.

An anchoring limitation designation allows Cape Coral to better regulate the body of water.

For example, people who live here full-time will now have to find a new home. Vessels can now only anchor for 45 consecutive days and only once every six months.

“It’s human waste these boats. They generate it. I never see a pump truck. I like to swim, and people eat fish out of here,” Daugherty said.

Littering and abandoned boats are other issues. Now, the city can take decisive action.

“They can be watching that these boats are moored properly, and they can make sure that they’re not going to come on shore and spill oil. And so, [it’s a] tourist-driven area and it’s nice. It’s a beautiful thing. Why have ugliness mixed with the beauty?” Daugherty said.

In Daugherty’s words, the approval means Bimini Basin will see new beauty soon. No more littering, no abandoned boats and no more boaters living on the water, which Cape Coral city leaders hope will bring more tourists to the area.