Marina Dock Age

Until now marinas have never considered their fuel docks as solutions to climate change. On the contrary, marinas pump fuel at their docks, and when boaters burn fuel, carbon emissions are emitted into the atmosphere. However, a new project called the Green Gallon Project may soon change that perception by turning the fuel dock into an emissions fighting tool.

Marinas participating in the Green Gallon Project allow their boaters to add a surcharge of one percent onto their gas dock bill that will go toward buying renewable energy. Although this project was just recently started and marinas have yet to implement it, several marinas have expressed interest in the project, according to Captain Dan Kipnis, founder of the Green Gallon Project.

Carbon’s negative impact

Kipnis has been both a commercial and recreational fishing captain for most of his life. He has seen first-hand the negative impact carbon dioxide from fossil fuels is having on the ocean, and he decided to do something about it. “The ocean holds three times more carbon dioxide than the air. Therefore, more of the carbon put into the atmosphere is winding up in the oceans, which is creating an acidic effect called ocean acidification,” said Kipnis.

Kipnis explained that the carbonic acids reaching our oceans are harmful because they eat the shells off of zooplankton, which is the basic food source for all marine life. Although the acidic levels aren’t yet high enough to kill off ocean life, they will be if something isn’t done about it. That’s why Kipnis spent the last three years developing his 501C(3) non-profit Green Button Project Corp. in Miami Beach, Fla., that started the Green Gallon Project.

How it works

The Green Gallon Project works by adding a one percent charge before taxes, onto a consenting boater’s gas bill at a participating marina. Then at the end of the month, the participating marina calculates how much money was raised under this project and either sends a check for that amount to the Green Button Project Corp. or pays the amount owed through the project Web site, www.thegreengallon.us using Pay Pal.

Once the Green Gallon Project receives the money, it hands it over to a brokerage firm called Renewable Choice Energy, which then buys carbon credits from a landfill that uses captured methane gas to create electricity. “Because a landfill captures and burns methane, a cleaner burning gas for electricity lowering their CO2 output, they are given carbon credits by the Chicago Carbon Exchange, which have a monetary value. I buy these carbon credits through my broker to support the landfill’s environmentally friendly practices,” said Kipnis.

Industry support

Although the Green Gallon Project was only recently introduced to the marina industry at the International Marinas & Boatyards Conference in Tampa, Fla., in January, it has already received a lot of support from business and industry professionals. For example, Jerry Nessenson, president of ValvTect Fuels in Dundee, Ill., is encouraging his nearly 500 certified ValvTect Marinas to adopt the project at their fuel docks. Nessenson also introduced the project to the board of directors of the Association of Marina Industries (AMI), which decided to partner with the Green Gallon Project.

Both ValvTect and AMI have written about the Green Gallon Project in their newsletters, hoping to make marinas aware of this opportunity. So far this publicity has paid off for Kipnis as several marinas have contacted him seeking more information about the project and one, Lamb’s Yacht Center in Jacksonville, Fla., plans to unveil the program at its National Marina Day celebration.

Making a difference

Kipnis said that recreational boaters used 1.6 billion gallons of gas and 321 million gallons of diesel in 2007. If just five percent of the boaters had participated in this project, then Kipnis would be able to buy millions of dollars in carbon credits, which would support landfills that turn methane into electricity and more importantly, protect the oceans.

Kipnis believes that the fight against climate change, which could reduce the acid levels in the ocean, must be successful. He adds that this is so important that he has already worked with both DockMaster and Watch Captain software companies so marinas can easily add this program to their automated fuel dock services.

If marinas are to be environmental leaders protecting the world’s waterways and taking the climate change threat seriously, they should join the Green Gallon Project, Kipnis said. To get involved, marinas can call Kipnis at 305/672-3807, e-mail him at captaindan@thegreengallon.us, or sign up online through his Web site mentioned above.

Once a marina signs up for the program, it is given decals for each pump that states the marina’s involvement in the program, brochures to give to boaters, and Kipnis helps the marina adjust its software to offer this one percent charge. Kipnis hopes to eventually have 60 percent of the 13,400 marinas throughout the United States involved in this project, as well as some international marinas.

Rob Preston is managing editor of Marina Dock Age magazine. He can be reached by phone at 847/647-2900 Ext. 1311 or via e-mail at  rpreston@prestonpub.com.

While most marina managers aren’t sure how successful their marinas will be in 2010, this New Year has already been a success for Hammond Marina, a 918-slip facility in Hammond, Ind. That’s because on Jan. 11, Hammond Marina was designated as Indiana’s first Clean Marina. Although Hammond Marina just won this award, the marina has always taken steps to protect the environment.

Environmental protector

Even before Hammond Marina was designated as a Clean Marina, the facility took care to protect Lake Michigan. Hammond Marina offered its customers recycling bins for hazardous materials, such as batteries and used oil, to keep dangerous chemicals from getting in the lake.

The marina hired a company to come and pick these materials up and properly recycle them and also offered recycling services for shrink wrap, glass, and metal. Hammond City crews pick up those recyclables.

Hammond Marina also built a fish cleaning station for fishermen where they clean their fish and dispose of the unwanted fish parts. An environmental service picks up those fish parts and disposes of them properly. Offering a fish cleaning station keeps fishermen from dumping the fish bodies back in Lake Michigan, which spreads diseases.

To keep pollutants out of the water, the marina planted vegetative buffer zones to filter any runoff rain water before it went back into the lake. The marina also used small suction containers when fueling to keep any fuel from overflowing into the water. Finally the marina offered four pumpouts, which it required boaters to use instead of dumping their sewage into the water.

When the Indiana Clean Marina Program started through the state’s Department of Natural Resources (DNR) in May 2008, Hammond Marina Harbormaster Keith Carey and Marina Director Bill Hill, CMM, said the marina already qualified for designation by meeting 80 percent of the required points.

However, both men said they wanted to meet 100 percent of the requirements. So Hammond Marina worked with DNR and other Indiana marinas to help grow the Clean Marina program while making minor facility changes to meet every requirement.

Getting certified

The biggest change that Hammond Marina needed to make before being designated as a Clean Marina was it had to install a proper boat washing station. Boaters were simply washing their boats at the launch ramp, and the waste water was going back into Lake Michigan without any filtering process.

Hammond Marina used its contracted plumbers to build the wash station, which consisted of cutting a rectangle in the parking lot, adding the filter to remove solids from the wash water, and connecting it up to the municipal sewer system where the wash water would go.

The same company that takes the solids from the fish cleaning station also takes solids removed from the wash water and disposes of it properly. The wash station also includes signage and a pressure washer to clean off the boats.

While qualifying for designation, Hammond Marina also expanded its recycling area to recycle bad gasoline and antifreeze so boaters had an option besides putting it in the trash or in Lake Michigan. Finally, Hammond Marina color-coded its drains so customers and staff would know which drains empty into the lake and which drains empty into the sewer system. 

A Clean Marina

Hammond Marina was designated as a Clean Marina, a first in the state of Indiana, and it even met 100 percent of the needed requirements. Now both Hill and Carey hope this designation will help them fill their slips. But both men admit that getting this certification wasn’t just about increasing business. “We want the lake to be as clean as possible for ourselves and our customers,” said Hill.

Rob Preston is Managing Editor of Marina Dock Age. He can be reached by phone at 847/647-2900 ext. 1311 or via e-mail at rpreston@prestonpub.com.

In July 2009, the Michigan Department of Natural Resources (DNR) opened a new $14 million “green” marina that it is describing as the most energy efficient and environmentally friendly marina in the state.

 Straits State Harbor in Mackinaw City, Mich., is a 132-slip facility on the shores of Lake Huron. What separates it from other marinas is its reliance on alternative energy sources, its use of 100 percent recycled materials, and its construction of rain gardens that naturally filter runoff. Throughout its buildings and in its daily operations and maintenance activities, Straits State Harbor sets a new standard for what makes a “green” marina while providing boaters with all the comforts of home.

 The beginning

 Straits State Harbor was built at the site of an old car ferry dock that was originally built in the early 1920s to take cars from the Lower Peninsula of Michigan to the Upper Peninsula and back. Then in 1957, when the Mackinaw Bridge was built to connect the upper and lower peninsulas, the car ferry wasn’t needed anymore, and the ferry dock closed.

 Since the early 1990s, DNR’s Parks and Recreation Division has planned to build a marina on the old ferry dock site, but the American car industry collapsed, dragging down the Michigan economy and putting this state project on hold. 

 In the early part of this decade, as more new boats were sold than in the 1990s, the associated marine fuel tax brought in enough increased revenue for DNR to consider moving ahead with a new marina. Unlike other state-built marinas, this new marina would showcase the state’s efforts to be a leader in producing alternative energy and using recycled and “green” products. The goal was to build a marina that not only served boaters but also was pro-active in implementing policies, procedures, and technologies that protected the environment, conserved water and energy, and saved money.

 In 2005, the DNR received the approval to proceed with the new marina project. Four years and $14 million later, Straits State Harbor was built. The DNR is very happy with this completed facility because it is a shinning example of what all builders and contractors can do to be “green.”

 Renewable resources

 The first thing DNR did in building this “green” marina was ground-up the materials from the old docks and reuse them to build the marina.

 To make the marina’s docks, DNR contracted with Flotation Docking in Cedarville, Mich., to use forest certified sustainable wood. For each tree that was taken out of the forest, another one was planted. Each slip offers water and electricity, and the marina hopes to add Wi-Fi service by spring.

 Then, DNR decided that a truly “green” marina should be at least partially powered by renewable energy. To accomplish this, DNR decided to install eight wind turbines manufactured by Skystream, a Michigan company, at $12,000 each. It decided on wind power because this area on Lake Huron is noted for its wind. “It was more expensive to put the turbines in, but we felt energy savings was the right thing to do. With the amount of electricity these turbines will produce, they will pay for themselves in a few years,” said Tom Paquin, the Parks and Recreation Manager for the DNR who oversees Straits State Harbor.

 Paqun noted that the wind turbines will produce as much as 40 percent of the electricity needed for ice suppression in the winter and to run the marina in the summer. He added that the wind turbines will supply the electricity used for the appliances in the boater’s lounge at the Harbormaster’s building.

 In terms of energy conservation, Paquin pointed out the marina will use solar-power to light the walkways around the marina. The marina also uses a battery powered truck and battery powered lawnmowers to maintain the marina. These pieces of equipment do not emit any carbon from fossil fuels and instead, are recharged every night using electricity from the wind turbines.

 To further conserve energy, the Harbormaster’s building uses light tubes, which direct natural light into the building to cut down on the electric light needs. During peak times, this natural light can account for about 80 percent of the needed light in the building. Furthermore, all the electric lights run on timers and motion sensors and only turn on when there isn’t enough natural light in the facility.

 The Harbormaster’s building contains furniture made from 100% recycled materials, which is the same material used to produce the benches in the outdoor picnic shelters. The building is also equipped with low flush toilets and urinals to conserve another precious resource, water.

 To protect Lake Huron from the runoff rainwater pollutants, rain gardens were planted throughout the marina to naturally filter the water.

 Although the state DNR believes the new marina is an outstanding example of what is involved in building “green” facilities, it wanted recognition from an objective source.  So it applied for and received Gold Certification in the Leadership in Energy and Environmental Design (LEED) project. “We’re very proud of this facility and how it uses renewable materials and alternative energy,” said Paquin.

 Rob Preston is Managing Editor of Marina Dock Age. He can be reached at 847/647-2900 Ext. 1311 or via e-mail at rpreston@marinadockage.com

For many years Kingman Yacht Center in Cataumet, Mass., has installed equipment and adhered to standards that looked after the environment. This off-season, Cape Cod’s largest full-service marina and boatyard plans to go even further by installing a 99.54-kilowatt solar system that will provide almost one-quarter of the marina’s energy needs.

Reaching for the sun
In October, cranes began moving into Kingman Yacht Center to begin one of the largest commercial solar projects on Cape Cod, but that was not before lots of planning and infrastructure preparation.

Scott Zeien, Kingman Yacht Center’s president, said the marina had put some thought into using solar power, but nothing concrete had come of it. “It really began with a sales person walking in and saying ‘why aren’t you considering doing this?’” Zeien said. Once the marina got real numbers in front of them, “It all just started to make sense,” he added. The marina started planning its solar project in February, and completed permit work in September.

That was the easy part. Installing 474 solar panels on the south-facing roof surfaces of three buildings would take more laborious prep work. In order to accommodate the extra weight of the solar panels, the marina replaced the roofs on two storage buildings. “I didn’t want to put a 25-year structure [solar array] on a 5-year roof,” Zeien said. For the office building roof, the newest of the marina’s structures, it applied a protective Teflon coating to ensure that it would last the solar panel’s 25-year lifespan.

Before installing the solar panels, a structural engineer had to inspect all the buildings and certify them as capable of withstanding not only the weight of the solar array but also weather factors, such as snow load and wind considerations. The engineer uncovered some small but important deficiencies, such as tightening cross braces and bolts and replacing worn or rusted out components.

Aluminum racks on top of the roofs at Kingman Yacht Center will eventually support the solar panels.

To accommodate the higher influx of power, the marina had to rebuild its entire electrical infrastructure. This project just began in October, and it took about three weeks to remove the old infrastructure and prepare for the new. Beginning toward the end of November, the rest of the electrical system will be hooked up. Zeien expects that additional work to take about three more weeks.

Show me the money
Overall the project is approximately a $900,000 investment–quite a financial load, especially in the current economy. However, Kingman Yacht Marina secured grants and rebates from the state and federal government to help subsidize the project.
Massachusetts and the local utility company were also involved with the planning process from the beginning. The utility company had to approve the new installation because it affects them too, said Zeien. In order to receive a state government rebate for a renewable energy project, “The state of Massachusetts had to review all the plans and approve a rebate for the system based on the amount of energy we’re generating,” Zeien said. Essentially, the state rebates the marina a certain dollar amount per kilowatt generated.

Thanks to the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act, the federal government offers tax credits for renewable energy projects. Additionally, as of July 2009 through Dec. 31, 2011, the Treasury Department will offer cash rebates in lieu of tax credits. The rebate will be equal to 30 percent of the project’s costs, once the facility is up and running.

Future plans
Even with construction barely beginning on Kingman Yacht Center’s solar power project, the marina is still looking ahead at environmentally friendly projects. “The big project coming down the road is the construction of a wastewater treatment plant on site,” Zeien said. The treatment plant could potentially provide wastewater needs for the marina, as well as about 65 local homes.

In terms of Kingman’s current solar project, Zeien said, “This is just a really great time to do this.” He noted that contractors and materials are readily available and somewhat less expensive. Zeien’s advice to other marinas considering solar power: “With the money available, it’s kind of nuts not to do it,” he joked.

In the end, the marina’s net investment for the project will be about $150,000. However, the solar power will save the marina 23 percent, or approximately $28,000 per year in the energy costs. Kingman Yacht Center expects the system to essentially pay for itself in five years. “We just very excited about doing something that’s amazingly new,” said Zeien.

Anna Townshend is assistant editor of Marina Dock Age. She can be reached by phone at 847/647-2900 ext. 1308 or via e-mail at: atownshend@prestonpub.com.

Proper disposal of hazardous materials, such as motor oil, antifreeze, and batteries, can be a difficult and costly process for boaters because they frequently don’t know where to dispose of these materials or how to take care of them. As a result, they’ll sometimes leave these products in their dock boxes with the hope that one day they’ll disappear, or they’ll simply throw these products in the trash can, which is not how to properly dispose of these items.

Facing this situation, California Yacht Marina, a certified Clean Marina with 364 slips in Chula Vista, Calif., where 20 percent of its customers are liveaboards, decided to resolve the problem head-on. Marina Manager Junior Cruz discovered that a lot of his marina customers were simply leaving these hazardous materials in their dock boxes. This was dangerous because some of these products could eventually wind up in Chula Vista Bay. This spring, Cruz decided it was time to get these hazardous materials out of the marina.

Cruz decided to have a “Clean Out Your Dock Box Day.” To help him with the effort, Cruz approached the city of Chula Vista’s recycling specialist, who liked the idea so much that he decided to extend the program to every resident in Chula Vista and call it “Clean Out Your Garage Day.”

The marina and city decided to hold this one-day event at the marina on Saturday, June 20. After securing permits and state grants, which paid for most of this project, the city hired a licensed disposal company, Clean Harbors Environmental Inc., to properly collect and dispose of this hazardous waste.

On the day of the event, 35 workers from the disposal company brought 55-gallon drums and several large containers to collect the hazardous materials and even put plastic on the marina parking lot to keep dangerous chemicals from getting into the water or sewer system. Cruz said by the time the collection started at 9 a.m., boaters and cars had already lined up to get rid of their hazardous waste. He estimates that 12 boat owners from his marina disposed of their toxic waste, as well as hundreds of city residents.

Benefits

Cruz said that one of the main reasons for the great turnout was the promotional and advertising efforts of the city of Chula Vista. Cruz said they made fliers and posted them throughout town telling residents about the toxic waste disposal day. For its part, California Yacht Marina also made fliers and hung them throughout the facility to get its boaters involved.

The collection went on until about 2:30 in the afternoon, and by that time 50,000 pounds of hazardous waste was collected. Cruz said this event was so successful that he is already talking with the city of Chula Vista about doing the same event next year.

When asked why he thought this program was beneficial to California Yacht Marina, Cruz replied, “Because our location on the Chula Vista Bay attracts a lot of our customers. So it’s important to keep the bay clean for future boaters.”

Cruz said that one added benefit of this year’s program was that it didn’t cost the marina any money. Thanks to the grants obtained by the city of Chula Vista, the project ran on its own and had a big positive impact on the ecosystem in Chula Vista Bay.

 Rob Preston is Managing Editor of Marina Dock Age. He can be reached at

847/647-2900 Ext. 1311 or via e-mail at rpreston@marinadockage.com

By Rob Preston

When Steuart Chaney bought Herrington Harbour South in 1978, he had one goal. “To be the best eco-sensitive, eco-lifestyle marina resort on the east coast.”

Now more than 30 years later, he and his family own and operate two marinas, Herrington Harbour North and Herrington Harbour South on Herring Bay, which is part of Chesapeake Bay in Maryland. Both marinas have about 600 slips each and are well known for not only protecting the environment, but actually enhancing the natural habitat.

Herrington Harbour has succeeded in being one of the most environmentally friendly marinas in the United States by:
•    Planting a living shoreline
•    Achieving a no discharge zone for Herring Bay
•    Offering free pumpouts
•    Starting a recycling program
•    Creating a wildlife habitat
•    Installing waste water filters
•    Removing old sunken boats
•    Renovating aging buildings
•    Helping to create the Maryland “Clean Marina Program”

When Chaney bought Herrington Harbour South, it needed a lot of work just to make the marina operational. “The piers were literally falling into the water, the grounds were filthy, the launching facility had been closed, and the offices were boarded up,” said Chaney.

When Cheney took his first steps to renovate the marina, he also made good on his promise to create a facility that not only protected the environment, but also enhanced it. He replaced the marina’s original untreated pine lumber docks with composite fixed docks.

The living shoreline
Chaney then went about fixing the marina’s shoreline.

When he purchased Herrington Harbour South, Chaney saw that the previous owners had placed concrete bulkheads down on the shoreline to keep it from eroding into Chesapeake Bay, which did not work.
Chaney knew from his years of growing up on a farm that the best way to prevent erosion is to plant native grasses on the shoreline. So he removed the bulkheads and construction debris and planted a living shoreline at Herrington Harbour South. “If there is grass on a hillside, it won’t erode. If you plowed that hillside it washed. And so I applied  the same philosophy to the banks of the marina when we put grass in,” said Chaney.
What’s important to note is that Chaney did not plant just any grass. He did some research and found that Spartina Alterna Flora grasses grew well in saltwater environments and were native to the area. So he planted those grasses right on the shoreline and then added Peytons to the upper shoreline to further fortify the soil. “If you get the elevations right, it stabilizes the shoreline and you can create a habitat area,” said Chaney.
Since that humble beginning, Herrington Harbour has restored or created about 160,000 sq. ft. of marshland. This living shoreline has also helped Herrington Harbour get a handle on the problem of trash washing up on shore. The grasses actually trapped the trash, which allowed for marina personnel to pick it up and throw it away instead of leaving it in the water.

Chaney said these efforts to pick up trash have helped keep Herrington Harbour and the surrounding Herring Bay clean. That’s because boaters are less likely to throw trash in the water if there isn’t any floating around. “Trash breeds trash. The more trash you see in the water, the more likely others will be to throw trash in the water too,” said Chaney.

This extensive living shoreline also serves as a habitat for birds, waterfowl, and small mammals, including diamond back terrapins, which have actually been found to be breeding at the marina. This is quite a feat since terrapins were becoming rare in Herring Bay because they require very clean water to survive. Herrington Harbour deserves a lot of the credit for the water being so clean because in 2002 it led an initiative to have Herring Bay designated as a no discharge zone.

No discharge zone
In 1982 Herrington Harbour South became the first facility on Chesapeake Bay to have a pumpout system, which was well before pumpout systems were mandated by the Clean Water Act. That’s because Chaney and his family knew the importance of keeping sewage out of Herring Bay. “At the end of the day, clean water is the lifeblood of our maritime system,” said Chaney.

Now Herrington Harbour offers free pumpouts to all boaters to discourage dumping. The two marinas also offer clean bathrooms to further encourage all boaters to use the bathrooms on land instead of on their boats where they may be more inclined to dump their sewage into the water. “Last year we pumped about 95,000 gallons of sewage out of boats,” said Chaney. That’s 95,000 gallons that didn’t wind up in Herring Bay, thanks to Herrington Harbour’s hard work.

But Chaney didn’t stop there. In 2002 he worked with the EPA and DNR to have Herring Bay designated as the first “No Discharge Zone” on Chesapeake Bay. “It has become a tremendous learning tool for boaters, so they can understand the significant negative impact the dumping of sewage has on the water,” said Chaney. Buoys mark this “No Discharge Zone,” which means that no sewage can be dumped overboard, while elsewhere on Chesapeake Bay boaters can still dump treated sewage from their boats. It’s this clean water initiative and the living shoreline that are bringing back the terrapins.

A recycling program
Recycling programs at Herrington Harbour have also played major roles in protecting the local environment. For instance, at both Herrington Harbour North and South, motor oil, diesel fuel, antifreeze, cardboard, and shrink-wrap are all recycled. Through this program Herrington Harbour said it was able to keep 50 percent of its waste out of the landfill. Furthermore the Inn at Herrington Harbour South, which offers 36 unique rooms, is a key component to this recycling effort. It provides recycling bins in each room to encourage customers to recycle paper, plastic, metal, and glass. The Inn also uses recyclable cups, plates, and bowls at the continental breakfast, and its bathroom tissue, paper towels, and napkins are made from 100% recycled materials.
At Herrington Harbour North, the yacht yard offers a wastewater recycling system at its travellift wells that properly disposes of barnacles, paint, and other debris that come off after a boat is power washed. Furthermore the wastewater treatment system treats the used water and allows it to be re-used while keeping harmful pollutants out of the water. Finally, in 2008 Herrington Harbour added a “Free Cycle Dumpster” to keep good products from winding up in the bottom of a landfill. The way it works is one person puts something in the dumpster they no longer want and someone else can take that object if they want it. “We found that people love dumpster diving. And boaters throw away good stuff, and so we now have these recycle dumpsters where if you have a mini-refrigerator and it still works, but you don’t want it anymore, you can put it in the dumpster and someone else will use it,” said Jed Dickman, the marina manager at Herrington Harbour South. This “Free Cycle Dumpster” has become quite popular at Herrington Harbour and is keeping potentially usable materials out of the local landfills.

Other environmentally friendly projects
Another way Herrington Harbour has kept usable materials out of the local landfill is by renovating older buildings instead of tearing them down and completely rebuilding with new materials. For example, some of the buildings at present day Herrington Harbour were originally at the marina when Chaney bought it in1978. “We’ve maintained most of the buildings. Some of them are actually approaching a historic designation because they’re 60 or 70 years old. One such building was the yacht club. It’s been restored and it’s used for catering and a restaurant,” said Chaney.

The Chaney family has also undertaken a large effort to preserve historic buildings in the community and keep them from being demolished. That’s because the Chaney family has been living near Friendship, Md., for the past 400 years, and some of these historic buildings have sentimental value.

On another level, however,  the family is also saving these historic buildings to keep useable materials out of the landfill. As a result, Herrington Harbour North has refurbished 12 historic buildings to offer customers some history along with their boating experience.

Feasibility
During the past two years, Herrington Harbour has preserved 600 acres of forest land on its property as a habitat for native species. “Brazilian birds migrate north to that forest every year to lay their eggs before returning south. These birds rely on this land for protection and for a suitable site for their eggs,” said Hamilton Chaney, the owner and operator of Herrington Harbour North.

Although Steuart Chaney and his family have the land and the money to accomplish all these wonderful environmental projects, they do admit that most marinas simply do not have the resources to do what Herrington Harbour has done. However, Steuart Chaney said all marinas can and should do something to protect the environment even if it’s just to save money.

Herrington Harbour has reduced the amount of trash it sends to the landfill in half, thanks to its recycling programs. Not every marina can reduce their trash output by 50%, but they can do something in this regard, said Chaney.

As Herrington Harbour became eco-friendly, it also brought more business and more customers to the marina because boaters want that feeling of being in nature, while still enjoying the boating experience. So while these environmental projects are costly and time-consuming, Herrington Harbour said these environmental efforts have brought in lots of customers to both marinas. “It costs us money to be so environmentally friendly, but we believe people come to Herrington because we are a natural get-away where our customers can reconnect with nature while enjoying the boating experience,” said Steuart Chaney.

There aren’t many marinas that offer nature trails or bird watching, while also offering a top of the line marina for its customers. But Herrington Harbour has pulled it off.