The Town of Palm Beach is launching an initiative to identify and remove illegal mooring buoys from town waters in the Lake Worth Lagoon.
The effort will promote safer navigation and address environmental harm to the lagoon’s water bottoms and seagrass meadows, which provide habitat for fish, manatees, and other marine life, the town said in a press release.
Palm Beach Police’s marine officers and partner agencies will immediately begin surveying and documenting illegal moorings within the town’s jurisdictional waters. Where possible, they will provide notice and conduct outreach before removing unauthorized devices under state enforcement authority, the town said.
The effort is in coordination with Lagoon Keepers and the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Town Manager Kirk Blouin told the Palm Beach Civic Association on Thursday.
“Derelict vessels have long posed a serious challenge in the lagoon, and the town’s renewed commitment to cleanup and buoy enforcement reflects a broader effort toward environmental stewardship and jurisdictional clarity,” Blouin said.
In June, the Florida Department of Environmental Protection reversed an earlier decision when it denied the City of Riviera Beach’s application for a state permit that would have allowed the city to operate a managing mooring field about 500 feet from Palm Beach’s North End shore.
Palm Beach strongly objected to the application, saying the mooring field would have been within its jurisdiction and that Riviera Beach did not demonstrate an ability to adequately manage and support the mooring field.
Blouin said the town’s initiative is not a direct response to Riviera Beach’s application. He said several recent developments, including an uptick in illegal moorings, growing environmental concerns, and jurisdictional overreach by Riviera Beach have all combined to heighten awareness of the problem.
Blouin also cited House Bill 481, the “Anchoring Limitation Areas” bill, which allows counties with a population of 1.5 million or more to set more restrictive anchoring rules. The bill became law in May.
Police Sergeant and department spokesman Michael Ogrodnick said the town will carry out the initiative with its existing police boat and marine officers. The department has two part-time marine officers and about 6 other officers certified for part-time marine duty.
Ogrodnick said the program is educational with no current plans to issue citations to violators.
“We’re focused on educating vessel operators and boat owners on the damage that illegal moorings are doing to the environment,” he said. “We believe people generally want to do the right thing, once they are educated. But some people aren’t really aware.”
The illegal moorings issue will be on the agenda at the Palm Beach Town Council’s September 9 monthly meeting, which begins at 9:30 a.m. in the meeting chambers at Town Hall.
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