GBA 2022 - Summer Update

PRESIDENT’S REPORT One Year on

By Rolfe Jones, GBA President

I t has been one year since I became president of GBA, and I have quickly realized that there is much to learn and do. Being your president is truly rewarding, but I’d be remiss if I didn’t say that the issues we face (development creep, high/low water levels, an explosion of new boaters on the Bay, noise pollution, growing environmental challenges) are getting bigger, more complex, and increasingly expensive to challenge with each passing day. Your Board works incredibly hard for you, but as we move forward, I would like to plant a seed for consideration with each of you to help us be better and do more. Before going any further, I’d like to take care of a few housekeeping items, as we’ve just recently held our Annual Members Meeting (AMM), (previously our Annual General Meeting) and there are a number of people who should be recognized. First of all, thanks to our Board members, our executive director Rupert Kindersley, and our communications and executive services coordinator Shannon Farquharson for pulling together such a great and informative session for our GBA membership. I’d also like to thank our association presidents and their voting members for attending our AMM – your engagement and input make good things happen for the Bay! Thank you to our outgoing directors Andrea Proctor (Madawaska Club of Go Home Bay) and Kathleen Kilgour (Woods Bay) for their contributions to GBA. And much appreciation to Eric Armour (Sans Souci and Copperhead) for his many years of service and for always being there with his supremely crafted thoughts, questions, and observations. And while I did thank John Carson (Wah Wah Taysee) last year when he passed the president’s torch to me, I would like to thank and recognize John’s many GBA contributions including serving as president, chair of the executive, editor of UPDATE , chair of governance and nominations, founder and chair of the Coastal Protection Committee, member of the Communications Committee, as well as advisor to me as your incoming president. John, on behalf of the entire Board I’d like to thank you for your many meaningful contributions to GBA and the Bay! We had a lot of great presentations from our Board chairs at this year’s AMM resulting in many good questions and conversations. Here are some highlights from the meeting that impact you and your families:

Staying informed. Keep up to date through our UPDATE and eUpdate newsletters. Encourage your family members and friends to sign up for eUpdate by forwarding your email link to them so that they can keep up with important Georgian Bay issues and GBA matters. More boat traffic on our waterways. New boat sales were up by 15 per cent in 2021 from the previous year. Personal watercraft and jet boat sales were up 21 per cent and 28 per cent respectively. Basically, this means more people and more boats on our waterways. It may also mean that more people may not know the rules of the waterways and therefore drive faster, throw greater wakes, and bring more noise pollution with them. The Safe Quiet Lakes (SQL) survey helped us understand our members’ cottaging priorities while SQL’s Decibel Coalition told us that members want to reduce excessive boat noise, speed and wakes. For more information, visit: https://bit.ly/3ADsmqE . Safety. Last year was the third worst boat safety year in the last 10 years, with 27 fatalities. Ten of these deaths happened in canoes – more than in any other vessel type. Another telling detail was that 113, or almost 45 per cent, of the 260 marine fatalities in Ontario over the last 11 years were people aged between 35 and 64, with preventable fatalities being mostly males aged 25-74. Modernization of pleasure craft licencing. The current lifetime and 10-year licences will move to five-year terms and will be phased in over six years. A $ 15 licence fee will come into effect in fall 2022. Fire . Protect your family and property by re-reading our fire safety protocols ( https://bit.ly/3MiHUVu ). And remember: if there is a fire near you, get out of the way of waterbombers and please don’t fly your drones within nine kilometres of a fire for a closer look. Bill 76: Lifejackets for Life. This private member’s bill would require parents and guardians to ensure that children 12 or younger wear a lifejacket while on a pleasure boat that is underway (this includes human-powered vessels too) or while being towed behind a pleasure boat. Failure to comply could result in a $ 200 fine. Water levels webinars. GBA/GBF executed a series of webinars about extreme water levels to discuss how to adapt to the impact of water levels on docks, septic systems, and structures. The key takeaway from these webinars was that there are some solutions to these challenges, but we need to plan carefully and adopt long-term strategies. Coastal protection. We have several initiatives underway, including extensive research by our coastal protection projects

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GBA UPDATE Summer 2022

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