Annual Reports for year ending December 31, 2005.
Rockport Harbor Department
Town Report 2006
The Rockport Harbor Department is an active
part of the Town of Rockport with a busy waterfront spanning from Folly Cove
to the southern end of Long Beach. Each year we host hundreds of visiting
boaters who either secure in the harbor or anchor out in Sandy Bay. This year
we experienced a heavy volume of transient boaters who enjoyed the shops,
restaurants and waterfront.
The tourist season started early this year in
February with a family from Germany enjoying strudel on the Neck and taking
family photographs. As they were taking a shot of their two little girls a
very large seagull swooped in and lifted up a fanny pack that contained their
valuable papers passport etc. The gull flew out into the middle of the harbor
and dropped the pocket book into the water and flew off. After a frantic call
from a local merchant the harbormasters paddled out and rescued the bag before
it went to the bottom. The family was very grateful and will always remember
their trip to Rockport.
In the winter months the harbormasters oversee
harbormaster training at the Salem Police Department. These harbormaster
certification classes run for 60-70 hours a year with “on the water” training
in the spring. The total number of hours for certification is 351hours. Three
out of the four Rockport Harbormasters are certified with the fourth near
completion. This training includes law enforcement on the water along with
numerous hours of maritime training.
As preparations were getting underway to put
the floats in for the season a discovery was made by a local diver of a
vehicle upside down in the harbor at Granite Pier. Upon further investigation
it was determined that the vehicle’s owner had been missing for several months
and the investigation took another turn in Rockport.
Early in May preparations were being made to
make a presentation to the Seaport Bond Council in Boston to request funds to
begin testing the harbor bottom at Old Harbor for future dredging. Later in
the summer the funds were granted to plan for the soil testing procedures.
Memorial Day weekend was the chosen weekend for
our much anticipated new Rockport main town floats. The 2 - 16’x16’ floats
arrived Sunday in the early morning hours on a large flat bed truck and were
unloaded at Granite Pier on the launching ramp at low tide. As the tide came
up the 2 floats were secured together and later towed over to Rockport Harbor
and put in place. The old town floats were over 50 years old and it was
finally time to retire them.
June brought the completion of the seawall
repair to White Wharf. This work secured the end of the outer breakwall on the
North West side of the harbor. This work will continue the protection of the
waterfront in the Bearskin Neck and down town area.
The summer months brought routine boating
traffic and numerous overnight visitors to the harbor and Sandy Bay. Hot
weather and lightning storms contributed to the activity in the harbor.
As Harbormaster/Shellfish officers the
harbormasters are on patrol for shellfish violations. Short lobsters, egg
bearing lobsters and V notch lobsters plus diving without a flag are among the
top violations.
The harbormasters work towards improving the
water front and continuing the Homeland Security efforts that are going on up
and down the coast. Each year training and meetings on these waterfront
concerns increase due to the country's efforts for homeland security.
The Rockport Harbor Department operates 24/7
year round. Office hours are on Thursday nights 7-8:30pm or by appointment.
harbormaster@town.rockport.ma.us
978-546-9589
Harbormaster Rosemary Lesch/Harbormaster Scott
Story
Assistant Harbormaster Ron Petoff
Assistant Harbormaster Story Reed
