Roanoke Times
Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: MONDAY, July 19, 1993 TAG: 9307200589
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: 6 EDITION: METRO
SOURCE: By BILL COCHRAN OUTDOOR EDITOR
DATELINE: LENGTH: Medium
But when he approached the public ramp, one of its access aprons was blocked by a boater whose engine had broken down. The other was dominated by a church holding a baptismal service.
The 30-minute wait got Crute steamed.
"Boaters are the ones who pay for those ramps," he said. "I haven't heard of them taking up a collection at a church for them."
The competition for the 213 public boat ramps operated by the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries often is keen, and user conflicts have been a problem. That fact caused the department to remind users this summer that the facilities were designed for launching and landing boats. Everything else should be secondary to that.
Signs posted at most public ramps say the facilities are for the use of boaters and fishermen only. That changed recently at a ramp on the Rappahannock River, when the city of Fredericksburg asked the game and fish department to erect a "Boaters Only" sign. The request came after a family trying to launch a craft was harassed by fishermen who wouldn't get out of the way.
Phil Lowns, acting chief of the department's lands and engineering division, hopes additional restrictions won't be necessary.
"We like multiple-use, but the primary purpose for those ramps is to launch and retrieve boats," he said. "If a fisherman is there, all he has to do is bring his line in until the boat is launched, then go back to fishing. It's really just a matter of common courtesy."
Conflicts don't just occur between fishermen and boaters. Ramps can be crowded with people who come to picnic and party, swim and sunbathe.
"A lot of it, there isn't enough space for everyone to do everything they want to do on public property," said Lt. Karl Martin, a state game warden who patrols Smith Mountain Lake.
The Hardy Ramp, the nearest launching facility to the Roanoke Valley, frequently has been a problem spot, but conflicts there have been declining, Martin said.
When the beach at Smith Mountain Lake State Park opened, it relieved much of the pressure on ramps from swimmers and sunbathers, he said. And word has gotten out that unauthorized use of the ramp can be dealt with harshly by the courts.
"The ramps at Smith Mountain are set up so if you are not launching a boat or fishing - the only legitimate, legal use - then you are trespassing," Martins said.
"The fines levied for trespassing on the Hardy boat ramp range from $50 to $100. The people who are there to drink and party are cautioned by a judge who says if they choose to have a party at Hardy they have to pay country club prices. There have been enough people run through the court system that word has gotten around that Hardy isn't the place to go to drink beer or do drugs."
Even so, it can be difficult for a warden when "a family has set up a blanket and spread soft drinks and chicken and you have to tell them they are trespassing," Martin said.
The growing interest in personal watercraft is causing problems at some ramps, said Lowns. The owners of these small craft need a staging area that is shallow, something ramps provide.
"All we are saying, if they want to use it fine, but if somebody wants to launch a boat let them launch. Don't repair your equipment there. Don't wash it there," Lowns said.
State boating-access sites are funded through boat registration fees and a federal excise tax on boating equipment, but they also receive supplementary funds from hunting and fishing license sales.
Boaters need to remember this the next time they get annoyed with a fisherman casting from a ramp, said Martin.
One boater even can be a pain for another when he takes too much time at a ramp, said Lowns. Some of the new ramps are being designed with "prep" areas where a boater loads equipment into his craft and prepares for a launch or takeout without blocking the launch area while doing it.
"We have been having to put up some signs that say there is a 15-minute mooring time for launching and retrieving a boat," he said. "We have people who tie up to a ramp for an hour or two. We don't want to restrict use, but if we have to we will."
by CNB