THE ‘Boats off the Beach’ cleanup has seen most of the dinghies, sailcraft and canoes removed from our foreshores or stored in the racks provided by Port Stephens Council.

This ongoing campaign saw all craft not stacked in the designated racks have warning stickers fixed to them.

After the mandatory notification time they were removed by Council.

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If they then went unclaimed, they were sent to a recycling centre.

Payment of an annual $100 fee secured a storage place in the two tiered racks near the water’s edge.

Following requests from local residents, Port Stephens Councillor Steve Tucker said that at Tanilba Bay, canoes and kayaks would also be able to be stored in the dinghy racks.

“This is the only place in the shire where this is the case,” he said.

“Some people didn’t like the dinghies being taken from the water’s edge,” he remarked.

“They felt that the ambience of the bays would be lost.

“If you look at paintings of the bays, there always seems to be upturned boats featured in these artworks,” he added.

“We just had to bite the bullet and make a blanket rule because at some popular beaches, the public was crowded out by the clutter of dinghies on the sand,” he said.

By Geoff WALKER