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Three Michigan marinas—Walstrom Marine in Cheboygan, South Haven Municipal Marina group in South Haven and Grant Moore Municipal Marina in Boyne City—are the most recent facilities to achieve official designation as clean marinas through the Michigan Clean Marina Program.
The new designations bring the total number of clean marinas in Michigan to 21. Designated clean marinas have implemented a suite of best management practices that promote environmentally sound marina and boating practices. “The program is a win-win situation,” said Chuck Pistis, state coordinator for Michigan Sea Grant. “Marinas – all marinas – play an important role in the critical areas of where land meets water. The Clean Marina Program helps address how to protect those areas while looking at the long-term sustainability of a marina from a business perspective.”
The Michigan Clean Marina Program is a voluntary stewardship program open to all public and private marinas in the state. The designation process begins with a pledge to participate, followed by workshops where the marina management and staff receive a marina handbook, overview of the designation process and a review of best management practices related to topics such as storm water management, petroleum control, and boat maintenance and repair, among others.
The facilities then conduct self-evaluations of their environmental practices to determine strengths and weaknesses. After implementing improvements and reaching program benchmarks, the marina requests a visit by a CMP consultant, who evaluates the facility’s environmental stewardship. When the facility reaches established goals, it receives the designation as a clean marina.
“It’s great from a reducing-human-impact standpoint and it makes good business sense,” said Pistis. “Marinas need to be reflective of the attitudes and desires of their customers and they have to respond to what their customers know is important.”
The Clean Marina Program (CMP) is a joint undertaking by the Michigan Boating Industries Association, Michigan Sea Grant and the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality.
Marina affiliates interested in the program can get more information at the upcoming Clean Marina workshop on December 5 in Bay City. Registration is due by November 24 and can be made by visiting www.mbia.org or by calling Jeff Spencer at 517-241-5719.
See Clean Marina Brochure (a pdf)
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