 | In this MMTA ENews Brief: Spring Has Sprung -- March 30, 2005
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| In this MMTA ENews Brief: Spring Has Sprung -- March 30, 2005
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THE BEST PROMOTIONAL VALUE FOR YOUR MARINE BUSINESS! Promote your business on the most visible boating web site in the entire New England region during its busiest time of the year! A record number of visitors continue to visit the BoatMA.com web site. This is THE time to get onboard!
The American Boat and Yacht Council (ABYC) ABYC has officially entered the online education arena with three online course offerings.
FREE placement exam - to help you determine which course to take For more details or to register for one of the above programs, please click on the link below or copy and paste into your browser: http://www.abycinc.org/educationprograms/onlineCourses/index.cfm At www.marinaresearch.com 
This month over 400 MMTA members, marinas, boatyards and yacht clubs were sent invitations to complete the Recreation Marine Research Center (RMRC) online economic impact survey at www.marinaresearch.com. If you are a marina or boatyard PLEASE take the time to complete the online survey: the benefit you will derive is enormous. After entering the required information, you will be armed with credible and verifiable information about the positive and substantial economic impacts YOUR OWN marina business has on your community. Your information remains CONFIDENTIAL. However, MA Marine Trades Assn hopes that, if enough data is provided by MA firms, we can aggregate the data (again confidentially) to estimate the total effect that the Marina Industry has on the Massachusetts economy. THIS is exactly the information the MA Legislative Boating Caucus has been asking of us in order to more effectively fight for what the marine industry needs and wants in Massachusetts! For more information, visit www.marinaresearch.com or contact MMTA Immediate Past President, Tom Cox at Constitution Marina tom@bosport.com Excerpts from RMRC website:
A Message from MMTA Government Relations and Legal Counsel, Jamy Buchanan Madeja: The Joint Committee on Community Development and Small Business just received Senate 171, filed by Senator Tarr and others. It looks like a great bill, intends to provide low or no interest loans for waterfront development to rehabilitate existing infrastructure to encourage and assist industrial and commercial development and activities. To access the complete bill text, visit MMTA Members Only Bulletin Board [user: MMTA, password: hightide] It has recently come to our attention that certain common practices have come under scrutiny by Occupational Safety & Health Administration (OSHA): specifically, the customary and usual practice of employing forklifts to move boats on trailers within boatyard/marina property. It has also come to our attention that several marinas and boatyards have been fined for such practice. OSHA cites that this practice represents an unapproved modification of the OEM (forklift) equipment. MMTA, Cape Cod Marine Trades Association and the Association of Marina Industries have each authored letters to OSHA in Boston declaring that this manner of moving boats within a boatyard/marina is not only a local, customary practice, but one which is widely accepted and standard procedure at marinas and boatyards nationwide. As of the date of this communication, we await a response from OSHA. In the interim, one MMTA/CCMTA member has worked out a solution for their particular facility. The process involves obtaining approval for the practice from their individual forklift/fork manufacturer which is in turn provided to OSHA. The steps this member took to get OSHA approval is outlined in a letter that may be accessed at the MMTA Members Only Bulletin Board. If you have an experience to share on this subject, please send an email to: Leona.Roach@boatMA.com. In light of eroding access to the waterfront and, specifically, the dwindling supply of slips, moorings and seasonal dry storage throughout the Commonwealth, MMTA needs to quickly establish a database of information of where and why these spaces are disappearing. Having this information available is essential in our communications with legislators and regulating authorities. The first step is assessing the scope of the problem and having some figures to back up our assertions. Please help us by providing information on the situation in YOUR area. No matter whether the loss is small or large, due to development or lack of dredging, we want your input. The following is an example of the kinds of information we are looking to track:
Like what you have read? PLEASE share these ENews briefs with colleagues and staff. While emails are sent to one contact at a Member Firm, all employees of member firms can benefit from this information. HAVE AN ITEM FOR ENEWS? Drop us a line at: Leona.Roach@boatMA.com
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