The permanently anchored mariners will be provided housing vouchers and a $150-per-foot buyback for the removal of their boats
Biologists argue that the vessels have caused extensive damage to seagrass that makes up a key part of the marine ecosystem
But some anchor-outs fear they will be unable to afford life on land
A community of mariners permanently anchored on the San Francisco Bay face eviction from the waters they call home under a program aiming to protect the delicate marine ecosystem.
Some three dozen ‘anchor-outs’ – artists, free spirits and the like – live rent-free and without the burden of permit fees on Richardson Bay, across from the affluent seaside community of Sausalito.
And while the waters were once teeming with an estimated 200 boats, that number has dropped sixfold amid a campaign by local authorities and the Army Corps of Engineers to remove all vessels from the bay.
Chad Wycliffe, 41, is one of the few mariners left. He has taken up residence on his 33-foot fishing boat, the Iron Maiden, with two mixed-breed dogs.
‘The city and the people have changed,’ Wycliffe told the San Francisco Standard. ‘Nobody owns this water, as much as they want to enforce rules upon it.’