Why Don't California Dive Sites Have Mooring Buoys?

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Lopez116

Contributor
Messages
777
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Location
Orange County, CA
# of dives
1000 - 2499
Forgive my ignorance, but I've always wondered why our dive sites don't have permanently installed mooring buoys. Places like the keys, cayman, the Virgin Islands, all have them to reduce the impact of boats and divers and preserve the reef. Why don't we have them? Is there something about our conditions, shore or reef structure that makes them impractical?
 
I've often wondered about this myself. Perhaps the issue could be "Who's going to maintain them" ? Yeah, that's another thing that Florida and the Caribbean "do right". Not to mention, most of the dive sites, regardless of what island you're on, are no more than 15 minutes away.
 
Might have something to do with 34 foot waves? 20+ is not that uncommon in Northern California.
 
Liability and maintenance are two issues I often hear tossed about.
 
While we don't have huge waves, we do have decent tidal swings (15 feet or so) and yet the Washington Scuba Alliance has successfully installed mooring buoys at many favorite dive sites in Puget Sound and Hood Canal. The WSA has worked with various state and federal agencies to get permission to install the moorings. It hasn't always been easy (for example, the Navy required the removal of some after giving approval and installation due to interference with sub sonar) and it's been expensive -- but I think all of us in the Pacific Northwest appreciate the time and effort of the WSA.

Washington Scuba Alliance
 
While we don't have huge waves, we do have decent tidal swings (15 feet or so) and yet the Washington Scuba Alliance has successfully installed mooring buoys at many favorite dive sites in Puget Sound and Hood Canal. The WSA has worked with various state and federal agencies to get permission to install the moorings. It hasn't always been easy (for example, the Navy required the removal of some after giving approval and installation due to interference with sub sonar) and it's been expensive -- but I think all of us in the Pacific Northwest appreciate the time and effort of the WSA.

Washington Scuba Alliance

Wow ! Seems like a great organization doing great things for the greater good of ALL LOCAL DIVERS, up there. The challenge down here, (SoCal), and this is just my perception, is that we have a hundred different "WSA's" trying to do a hundred different things or projects, with no cohesiveness. We have a lot of great divers/people down here, but also a fair amount of ego's, as well. Lopez's comment above ("I thought we were supposed to be a progressive state") holds validity. I think we are, but maybe sometimes too much, and sometimes not enough. My personal beef here is I wish we had more legitimate wrecks to dive. Gulf Coast states, Florida, etc., are sinking wrecks, creating artificial reefs almost every day of the week, and they are doing it right & responsibly. The benefit is Dive Tourist dollars, as well as new places for fish to thrive. For some reason, we just can't seem to "get that done" here in SoCal. Really irks me, specially when these artificial reefs SPAWN LIFE !! Sorry to go off a little off topic, I think it does tie into the original topic.
 
Here's how we (or shall I say our Canadian brothers) do ithere in the Great Lakes (Erie):
Mooring Home Page
We all support it...

The US side is done by the Charter Captians that want to earn a living....
We support them too....
 
https://www.shearwater.com/products/peregrine/

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