Legislative & Government Relations ALERT!
MMTA needs to mobilize its members and friends as soon as possible to contact their legislators about the scheduled closings of the Hyannis and Fall River Vessel Registration and Titling Bureaus.
If enough MMTA members and boaters contact their Representatives and Senators stating their opposition to the closings of these offices, then we have a chance of convincing authorities to reconsider this decision. If these offices close as scheduled in a few months you and your customers will have only THREE registry options: Downtown Boston, Worcester or Springfield.
PLEASE, PLEASE contact your Reps and Senators TODAY
STATE your OPPOSITION to the closings of the Hyannis and Fall River locations.
Don’t know who your Rep/Sen is? Click here http://www.wheredoivotema.com/bal/myelectioninfo.php
to enter your home address and contact your Massachusetts legislators via electronic mail. You are welcome to copy and personalize the below comments, but remember, the more personalized your message, the more powerful it will be. Feel free to pass along this request to your customers, vendors and boating friends.
A grassroots effort may be all that we need to halt the closings of these offices!
Dear Representative or Senator ________________
My name is _____________________ and I make my living in the marine trades in Massachusetts.
I am very disappointed to learn of the planned closings of the Hyannis and Fall River vessel and registration titling bureaus.
Closing these offices will mean that a significant number of the 156,000 registered boaters and 213 marine businesses in Barnstable, Bristol, Dukes and Plymouth counties will have no alternative but to travel to Boston, Worcester or Springfield to conduct routine transactions. This will be a great inconvenience and place an unreasonable burden on small marine trades businesses who register boats as a courtesy to their customers The shuttering of these offices imposes a disproportionate burden of time and travel expense on citizens and small businesses alike.
Boaters and marine retailers have shouldered the cost of increased vessel registration fees, are faced with the threat of new mooring and user fees and--with the closings of the Fall River and Hyannis offices—are being asked to accept a decrease in service. For small businesses operating in a highly competitive and regulated environment, to incur the inconvenience of distant Registration & Titling Bureaus is unfair. For the boating public’s budget, already stretched thin by escalating fees and higher fuel prices, this new hassle of registering a new boat at a remote location may be enough to drive them into alternate recreational activities.
I urge you to express your opposition to these scheduled closings. I hope you will agree that until fully functioning, alternative locations are established and fully staffed in these areas or until licensed dealers and brokers are authorized as vessel registration agents, that the Hyannis and Fall River locations should remain open and accessible to all.
Respectfully submitted,
Your Name
Business Name
Address
ALERT TO MARINERS TRANSITING CAPE COD BAY
A Message from NOAA Fisheries Northeast Regional Office
Dear Shipping Interests and Other Interested Parties,
Aerial and shipboard surveys have confirmed the presence of large aggregations of North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay near areas of heavy vessel traffic. The whales, including several mother/calf pairs, have been observed feeding at or near the surface, making them particularly vulnerable to the risk of collision with vessels.
Concentrations of feeding whales have been sighted along the western margin of Cape Cod Bay within five miles of land, and in the approaches to Provincetown in the area between Race Point and Long Point.
Right whales may be oblivious to their surroundings while feeding, and aggregations of feeding whales can persist for several days. In light of the highly endangered status of this species, the presence of several mother/calf pairs, and the vulnerability of these whales to collision with vessels, particularly while feeding, the National Marine Fisheries Service issues the following request to mariners transiting Cape Cod Bay:
VESSELS SHOULD USE EXTREME CAUTION AND OPERATE AT A SLOW, SAFE SPEED OF 12 KNOTS OR LESS WHEN CONSISTENT WITH SAFETY OF NAVIGATION.
Mariners are also reminded that approaching a right whale closer than 500 yards is a violation of state and Federal laws. Charts showing recent sighting locations can be viewed at: http://www.nefsc.noaa.gov/cgi-bin/rwhale.pl or http://whale.wheelock.edu/whalenet-stuff/reportsRW_NE/
We appreciate your cooperation with our efforts to protect right whales.
MMTA SUPPORTS BEN FRANKLIN INSTITUTE'S HIGH FLY'N FUNDRAISER
On Saturday evening, April 16th over twenty MMTA members, directors and staff turned out in their formal finery for a gala evening and benefit auction to support the Benjamin Franklin Institute of Technology (BFIT) in Boston's South End. In the fall of 2005 BFIT will enroll its first students in a new Marine Technology Program endorsed by MMTA and the MMTA Educational Trust.
Tens of thousands of dollars were raised in this capital campaign and special thanks are due to MMTA members and friends who generously contributed auction items and purchased tables as patrons.
MMTA members contributing auction items or attending the evening's festivities included: A to Z Boatworks, Burr Brothers Boatyard, Constitution Marina, Harbor Mooring Service, J Way Enterprises, Marina Bay on Boston Harbor and 3A Marine Service. Also in attendance were MMTA Government Relations and Legal Counsel, Jamy Madeja, Esq., MMTA Executive Director, Leona Roach and Massasoit Community College Marine Trades Instructor, John Bernier.
Left to Right: Toby Burr of Burr Bros, Jamy and Jimmy Madeja, 3A Marine's John McLaughlin, Tina Marie Giambro of Marina Bay and Angela and Ed Lofgren of 3A Marine Service and MMTET Trustee.
THREE MMTA REGIONAL SPONSORSHIPS AWARDED
In early April the MMTA Board of Directors approved several regional sponsorship grants for events being held during the summer of 2005. Requests were submitted by South Eastern Regional Chairman Dave Kaiser of Mattapoisett Boatyard and interim North Shore Regional Chairman, Warren Kelly of Baert Marine and Vernon Promotions.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Be sure to mark YOUR calendar and attend these MMTA sponsored events in your area:
July 23, 2005
Celebrate Buzzards Bay 2005
The Coalition for Buzzards Bay, New Bedford, MA
August 20-21, 2005
Annual Antique and Classic Boat Festival
Hawthorne Cove Marina, Salem, MA
July-August, 2005
Water Sports Day
Club Fleur de Lis, Dracut, MA
COASTAL MUSINGS
"Land ends at low-tide mark. Where the sheen of wet mud or sand deepens to salt water, to water moved by waves or wind or current, land becomes bottom only, something seen through the intervening prism, something felt with toes or downward-thrust oar. Twice each day the tide reaches landward, covering the exposed ground, momentarily creating a new edge to land. But that edge always holds the promise of the ebb, the revelation of damp ground stretching to the water, the regular possibility of walking dry-shod somewhat further toward ocean."
From Alongshore, authored by South Shore resident and Harvard University professor, John R. Stilgoe.
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SHARE THE WEALTH!
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