At the meeting this month it was decided that it is time to announce the existence of the British Columbia Nautical Residents Association.Over the next month we will be developing a press kit that will be circulated to as broad a section of the BC media as possible. The point is to provide a level of credibility for the organization with the media on topics that are important to our members.

At this time the membership has reached the grand total of 27 master members with approximately 50 more associate members. Membership confirmation will be emailed out to the members with a short questionnaire are that will standardize the information and allow us to build a database of members.

At this month meeting one of the topics of discussion was the placement of 43 mooring boys in the area in front of the Newcastle Island Park. Our directors will research how this affects the liveaboards who frequent this area.

Another topic of discussion was the concept of maintaining a series of columns on the web page. If any one is interested in submitting such a column for publishing, they are asked to submit any ideas to bob_goth@bcnr.org. The topic can be pretty much anything that may be of interest to BC liveaboards.

In an attempt to normalize meeting times, the directors have decided to hold meetings on the third Thursday of each month.

Meanwhile the directors of the BCNR would like to wish everyone a merry Christmas and a prosperous new year

The directors finally met Nov 18 2010 for the first time since we arrived back after the summer.

The first order of business was to establish a layout for the web presence and determine how to make best use of the Internet.

The directors then started discussion of a variety of topics that affect the liveaboard community.

The topics included :

The importance of anchoring rights and how the growing trends affect the safety and security of liveaboards.

What are the laws around mooring rights on docks. What are the rights of a person living on a boat in a marina. And what are the obligations of marina owners as spelled out in the contracts between the federal government, marina owners, provincial government, and civic governments.

Currently some communities are employing local security in place of the R.C.M.P. to police the harbours. These forces are demanding, in some cases, what appears to be unreasonable access to people’s homes. What is the legal role of the police and do they have the right to board a vessel, someone’s home, at anchor without a warranted reason.

There was also discussion of danger of mooring balls, official or otherwise, to liveaboards and to the boating public in general. What can be done to manage these moorings and protect the few safe places that one can anchor in inclement weather or an emergency.

The discussions above led us all to the conclusion that what is needed is research into the laws regarding living aboard.

To this end we are asking the members for assistance.

We ask for any knowledge that anyone has or any researcher that they may be able to provide.

Participation from our members is paramount so please contact us and help us out to make all our lives safer and more secure.