Charter Boat Captains Sound Alarm On Lack Of Marine Fuel Sources In Nantucket Harbor

The Nantucket Boat Basin marina is the only source of marine fuel for the island's waterfront, a vulnerability that has long worried boaters. Last week, that vulnerability was exposed when the Boat Basin's pumps went offline for several days, leading to renewed calls for a second marine fuel source.

“This is a conversation that does have to start now,” charter boat captain Pete Kaizer told the Select Board during public comment last Wednesday. “Something like no fuel, it makes absolutely no sense. I mean, we're getting laughed at a little bit.”

According to Kaizer and his fellow charter boat captain Brian Borgeson, who both spoke out publicly at last Wednesday’s Select Board meeting, the Boat Basin’s fuel pump was down for three days.

“We can't kick this down the road again,” Borgeson said. “We need a solution.”

Borgeson told the Current last Thursday that the Boat Basin’s fuel pump was back up and operational. Boat Basin representatives confirmed that, but declined to comment further.

Borgeson focused his remarks on the Great Harbor Yacht Club (GHYC), which has been at the center of several recent discussions surrounding the island’s lack of a second marine fuel source.

“It’s a real issue. If there’s an emergency and someone...is 50 miles east of the island and needs to get towed in right now and I have 110 gallons of diesel in my boat, I tell him no,” Borgeson said. “That's not okay. That's a public safety issue, never mind a convenience issue.”

Members of the Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board, including Select Board member and charter boat captain Bob DeCosta, have argued that the license that allows the GHYC to use and develop the waterfront near its Washington Street property also requires it to provide fuel to boaters. They have also alleged other violations of that license.

“No one enforces these licenses. It's a running joke,” DeCosta said at a previous meeting. “The town needs to put pressure on the state to make them be in compliance.”

The GHYC does not provide fuel and has never contested that it is required to do so under its permit. Instead, representatives have claimed that providing fuel would be expensive and inconvenient and that they’ve had trouble finding a company willing to assist them.

That argument has not convinced the Harbor and Shellfish Advisory Board. They want the Select Board—and the state, which is ultimately responsible for enforcing the license that requires the GHYC to provide fuel—to crack down.

Borgeson also called for the GHYC to provide fuel.

“Shame on us for letting go,” Borgeson said. “That's supposed to be a working boatyard. There's no fuel. It's not fair for us. It's not fair for transient people. Something needs to change. The discussion needs to start now.”