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f you looked at Harborcam in the past day or two you’d have seen a large fishing trawler getting work done from Chris Fulcher’s yard — while tied up to one of the slips in the Town’s new Town Dock. For much of the day yesterday and overnight, the Gulf Stream III was entirely blocking any other vessels from tying up on the south side of the dock. No small craft could get in.

The scene Monday (which continued on in to Tuesday.)

This runs counter to how many thought the new Town Dock would be used when Town leaders pushed the idea of a land swap that was generous to Fulcher two years ago. (In it, the Town gave up 13,000 square feet of right of way on both the river and the harbor for one 5,000 square foot lot and a vestige of a dock.) The idea touted back then was that this new Town Dock would be a place where cruisers, and other boaters wanting to stay overnight, could tie up for free and visit town and help boost Oriental’s economy.

A worker tends to a piece of trawler that was installed on the Gulf Stream III Monday while it blocked one side of Oriental’s new Town Dock.

It’s a good bet that few, if any one in Town, envisioned the Town Dock being used as an extension of Fulcher’s extensive harborfront property and boat renovating operation. This is the latest — and longest — incident but other large fishing trawlers have used that slip as well in recent weeks.

At the Town Board’s agenda meeting last Thursday, former commissioner Warren Johnson pressed the current Town Board to do something. Johnson said that he “couldn’t imagine that taxpayers” were happy with trawlers tying up there. “It should be handled ASAP,” Johnson told Commissioners Barb Venturi, Charlie Overcash and Sandy Winfrey.

There has been some discussion that the ship captains may have tied up in that area in earlier years when Fulcher owned the rough dock, and may not realize that the Town refurbished it for pleasure craft. Venturi noted that there were no signs.

A Town Dock reader supplied this photo taken Sunday afternoon after the Gulf Stream III was seen using the outer piling of the new Town Dock as a pivot point. The only sign at the piling speaks to the 2 day limit for vessels, but doesn’t speak to what kind of vessel can and cannot tie up for free.

Warren Johnson said he thought it was a “major issue” when pleasure craft come in to use the new Town Dock only to find the large commercial fishing vessels there.

Speaking on Thursday Commissioner Venturi downplayed the impact on pleasure craft. While the trawlers occupied the new Town Dock, she said, “the other dock was open” suggesting that pleasure craft could go there.

She also said that when a trawler tied up there late last month, Sherrill Styron, who owns the seafood house across the harbor where many trawlers unload, went to the ship as soon as he learned it was there and told them they couldn’t stay at the new Town Dock.

The Gulf Stream III as it took up the slip space on Sunday afternoon. Its heavy dock lines spanned the new Town Dock creating an obstruction for anyone wanting to walk down the dock.

But it’s been a much different — and longer-running scenario — with the Gulf Stream III. It lingers and uses the Town Dock as the base camp for its repairs. The trawler was first noticed at the new Town Dock on Saturday, then moved away for a day to Fulcher’s adjacent slip. Then it returned Sunday to the Town Dock so that a large piece of trawling gear could be installed from Chris Fulcher’s property.

Oriental’s half year old Docking Ordinance is silent on large fishing ships tying up at the Town Docks. But as it turns out, the Town Board at its monthly meeting tonight is poised to make some changes to other aspects of the Docking Ordinance. Several residents are planning to speak and urge the Board to tackle as well the question of the large commercial fishing boats tying up there. One practical consideration is whether the Town could or should ban boats by their use, their type or by their size.

Some residents are upset over the trawlers at the Town Dock because it keeps the dock from being used in the way it was oft-touted — of bringing more boating visitors to town and helping local businesses. For some, there’s the vexing circumstance of having watched the Town swap away 75+ feet of harborfront and potential docking area only to have that smaller parcel it got it the trade from Fulcher be used as an extension of his marine operation. All this is playing out on Oriental’s harbor as snowbird season and the flock of south-bound cruisers are just a month away.

Posted Tuesday August 5, 2014 by Melinda Penkava