11. Green Cove Marina

Clean Marina Image Has Positive Impacts

Environmental change

An overall positive environmental image was built with a combination of bottom wash water recycling, portable pumpout, trash recycling, and more.

The estuarine, small-boat marina

Green Cove Marina is a private full-service marina/boatyard used as a home port in 1995 by 261 boating families, a 93% occupancy. The marina summer season capacity is 280 slips, and 5 boats are stored on land. The boat sizes are considered small to average; 26% are under 20 feet, 31% are 21 to 25 feet, 27% are 26 to 30 feet, and the rest are between 31 and 45 feet. On a busy weekend, 80% of the boats are in use dockside or under way, with about 40% sleeping overnight. There is one liveaboard in the marina, and its owner keeps an eye on security and the environment. Ten full-time employees work year-round, supplemented by three part-timers in the summer. Other profit centers include launch/haulout service, bottom painting, electronic sales/service, hull and engine repairs, new and used boat sales, trailer sales, retail store, fuel dock, snack/beverage/ice sales, and a swimming pool. Boats are hauled out with the Algonac straddle hoist, then moved by a yard trailer or forklift.

Within a 2-mile radius there are six other marinas on the river, serving a combined fleet of 1,000 to 2,000 boats. The boating season runs from April through November. Green Cove Marina was built in 1958 and bought by Al Davidson in 1973.

Management measures

Green Cove Marina complies with the marina management measures for sewage facility, maintenance of sewage facilities, and solid waste, as well as marina flushing, shoreline stabilization, storm water runoff control, fueling station design, liquid materials, petroleum control, boat cleaning, and public education.

Costs/benefits

A combination of low-cost clean marina changes at Green Cove Marina has attracted new customers and income. Recycling costs little, yet has eliminated the need for a second dumpster that would have cost $2,700 per year. The trailer-mounted pumpout station cost $6,300, while the boat bottom wash water filter and recycling system cost $1,500. These improvements helped attract about 8% more customers, who wanted to be in an environmentally friendly marina, for an estimated annual slip increase of $27,000. Water clarity and quality in the marina basin have improved over the past year.

Environmental improvements

As seems typical of marinas that have decided to be actively pro-environment, Green Cove Marina has implemented a range of low-cost improvements that have helped both the environment and the business.

When Ocean County started a recycling program, Green Cove was one of only two marinas to participate. A fiberglass "recycling bell" container is provided and emptied free by the county. A commercial waste hauler provided a 4-yard dumpster for the marina's cardboard with no-cost pickup. "Without recycling," owner Al Davidson said, "we needed a second trash dumpster in the boating season to avoid overfilling on weekends. It would have cost us $450 per month." The annual saving from recycling is currently $2,700.

In response to concern about water quality around the marina and in response to the call for boat sewage control, Davidson said, "We mounted an electric 40 gallon-per-minute diaphragm pump on our own trailer (cost $1,000), added a 225-gallon holding tank for a total cost of $6,300, and had our own movable pumpout station. We keep it at the fuel dock for convenience of use, but we can go to boats in the slips. Marina staff does the pumping out, and our customers like this. The number of pumpouts increases each year."

A $2,600 pumpout grant helped defray the pumpout cost. Because the system is portable, no coastal permit was needed, saving another $1,000. Income from the $5.00 pumpout fee from 500 pumpouts was $1,700. It costs an estimated $1,900 for labor and $50 for electricity. Green Cove's owner, staff, and customers are proud of their clean marina efforts, which, according to Davidson, "have helped attract about 5% to 8% more customers who seek an environmentally friendly marina." The new slip income is estimated at $27,000. "If anyone asks, I would recommend buying a ready-made portable pumpout trailer instead of making your own."

"This fall we are using free 1996 season pumpouts to all boats that sign up for a 12-month contract for winter on-land storage and summer slip rentals. Our offer has just started, and in the first week two new winter storage customers signed on. While we won't know until late fall how many other new customers will be attracted, just these first two paid for the promotion program," noted Davidson. "Most boat owners want to use the pumpout service regularly, and our free promotion is raising interest."

"There is a visible improvement in the water quality. It appears cleaner, and there are more crabs, fish, and ducks seen around our dock," claimed Mike Petix, the marina environmental manager. "We think the pumpouts have really helped."

EPA has identified boat bottom washing as a source of pollutants needing control. "To do this, we modified the high-pressure wash-down pad beneath our rail-mounted Algonac straddle lift," explained Petix. "We created a sump drain system and a lift pump that pushes the dirty water into our own designed filter and all-plastic recycling system of a series of three filtering drums (55 gallons each) and a 225-gallon holding tank. It cost $1,500 to build in parts and my labor, excluding the building and existing cement pad. We are still tinkering with the setup to make it simpler. But it works good, and you should see all the muck it filters out which used to go into the water. We now dry it and send it to the landfill. This clean pressure-wash system appeals to our environmentally oriented customers."

"The most common comment people make is 'How clean the marina is.' Customers also feel good and adopt our clean marina attitude. There is a pride in cleanliness here," added Davidson. "In the past 2 years each boating family has set up its own 'backyard' adjacent to its slip, and they put pressure on neighbors to keep us so clean not even a cigarette butt is found on the ground."

About 4 years ago Ocean County used a grant to make a video to show schoolchildren how marinas dovetail with ecology. "From all the marinas to choose from in the county, they chose Green Cove to demonstrate its positive impact on the environment and the economy, and made the whole film here," Al Davidson stated proudly, "and the publicity did not hurt the business."

Many small improvements have been made to make Green Cove Marina cleaner in operation and appearance. Every boat with an inboard engine has an oil-absorbing pad in the bilge, and the fuel dock has oil spill containment equipment at the ready. The old in-ground fuel tank was removed and replaced by an aboveground tank in a concrete spill container. In the engine repair shop, Davidson finds it cost-effective and safer to use a commercially supplied, cleaned, and maintained parts washer; the cost is about the same as buying the solvent alone. Used oil is also recycled at a cost of $0.50 per gallon (but Davidson is tracking down another company that takes marina oil free).

Green Cove Marina has all customers sign a Customer Best Management Practices pledge when they lease a slip. They pledge to participate in the clean marina program and honor environmental rules based on the marina's own written BMP plan for its NPDES permit. A similar signed BMP statement is required of outside subcontractors before they can work on anyone's boat.

All auto parking spaces and roads are paved with crushed stone, which helps reduce polluted rain runoff.

Twice a year the marina newsletter is published, and each issue has articles about what is being done to keep the environment clean and ecological tips for boaters. Signs strategically scattered about the marina direct customers to restrooms, the recycling area, and pumpout.

In every industry there are quiet leaders, and Al Davidson is one of them. As an officer of the Marine Trade Association of New Jersey, he is a very proactive, tireless worker who is helping the marina industry prosper in a changing world of environmental regulations. Al has been a steady and practical voice in developing the Clean Marina national program, has participated in national forums on the CZARA nonpoint pollution management guidelines for marinas, and advises New Jersey on its CVA pumpout program. In his Green Cove Marina, he puts into action many of the practices he has been advocating politically.

Equipment source

• Pumpout: Edson Bone Dry Electric Skid Mount Pump; Edson International, 460 Industrial Park Road, New Bedford, MA 02745-1292.