Home » Boater Habits for a Healthy Bay

Boater Habits for a Healthy Bay

As boaters, we love the Bay.

What we do matters. Casco Bay is changing and changing quickly. Our coastal waters cannot weather the impacts of climate change, pollution, litter, and apathy. When we are on our boats, we need to practice habits for a healthy Bay.

Habits for a Healthy Bay:

 

 

 

Don’t pee or poop in the Bay

It is illegal and harmful to discharge sewage into Casco Bay.

Leave no trace, nothing over the side

Trash and litter harm the Bay and its ecosystems.

Gas up the boat, not the Bay

Use spill pads to clean up spills when gassing up your boat.

Report what you see — become a Water Reporter

Report oil spills, algal blooms, and concerning conditions seen on the Bay.

Don’t pee or poop in the Bay

It is illegal and harmful to discharge sewage into Casco Bay.

Casco Bay is a federally-designated No Discharge Area, which means it is illegal to release blackwater (raw or treated sewage) from any vessel into the Bay — this includes peeing over the side. All boats in Casco Bay must hold their blackwater until it can be removed at a pumpout facility. It is also illegal for any vessel to discharge graywater (shower, sink, or onboard laundry water) that is mixed with blackwater.

For smaller boats without an onboard toilet, blackwater and human waste must be collected and disposed of at facilities on land. Many boaters keep an emergency bucket onboard for such situations.

We may ask ourselves: Casco Bay is large, how can one person’s waste have a negative impact? It is estimated that one flush of untreated sewage from a boater contains the same quantity of bacteria as 10,000 flushes of sewage processed by a treatment plant. Considering that thousands of boats anchor and pass through Casco Bay each summer, the harmful impacts of boater sewage can add up fast.

Leave no trace, nothing over the side

Trash and litter harm the Bay and its ecosystems.

A wide variety of trash and litter can be found on the shores and in the waters of Casco Bay. Marine debris has many sources and many impacts: ensnaring, choking and blocking digestion in marine life; disrupting biological productivity at the base of the coastal food web; and releasing toxins and chemicals into the Bay. The vast majority of marine debris is plastic and not biodegradable and will persist in the water well beyond our lifetimes.

Always secure plastic bags, cans, and other potential litter while out on the water and properly dispose of them on land. Just like hikers on their favorite trails, we boaters on Casco Bay are expected to leave no trace.

Gas up the boat, not the Bay

Use spill pads to clean up spills when gassing up your boat.

Gas, oil, and other petroleum products are toxic to marine life and do not belong in Casco Bay. As power boaters, we have all made the mistake of spilling fuel at the gas pump. We keep spill pads on our boat to clean up these spills. If you do not have a spill pad available, ask your marina operator for one. 

Fuel and oil can accumulate in bilge water. As responsible boaters, we keep absorbent “skimmer” pads in our bilge to soak up any leaked petroleum products.

Do NOT use dish soap or other detergents to disperse a spill. The detergent will only break the spill into smaller parts and add concentrated soap to the water.

Report what you see — become a Water Reporter

Report oil spills, algal blooms, and concerning conditions seen on the Bay.

Casco Bay is big, and our staff and Maine’s environmental agencies cannot be everywhere at once. As boaters out on the Bay, we often encounter conditions that go unnoticed from shore. Collectively, we boaters hold a unique responsibility to help report concerning conditions we see on Casco Bay.

If you are on the water and notice the strong smell of gasoline or observe an oil spill, report it immediately to Maine Department of Environmental Protection. 

Maine DEP Oil Spill Hotline: (800) 482-0777

In addition to oil spills, boaters can help report nuisance and harmful algal blooms, pollution, and sightings of marine life. To report phenomena like these, we ask boaters to sign-up to be a volunteer Water Reporter — our citizen observing network that documents changing and concerning conditions on and around Casco Bay. By simply taking a picture and posting it to the Water Reporter app, boaters can help us better track what is happening in Casco Bay. Click here to learn more about how to download the Water Reporter app and join Friends of Casco Bay’s Water Reporter group.

The health of our waters depends on us.
Thank you for doing your part.