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40 <br />L-1 <br />410 Indian Mver Counly Manatee Protection and boating Safely Comprehensive Management Plan <br />Table 2 <br />Categorization of Powerboats <br />Registered in Indian River County (1997-1998) <br />Class <br />A-1 <br />Length (ill Power- <br />f1lo Boats <br />Under 12' <br />Commercial <br />Boats <br />1,409 <br />33 <br />A-2 <br />IT -1 Yl 1" <br />2,720 <br />127 <br />1 <br />16'-25'11" <br />3,810 <br />251 <br />2 <br />26— 39'11" <br />464 <br />59 <br />3 <br />40'— 64'11 " <br />103 <br />23 <br />4 <br />65'— 109'11" <br />1 <br />1 <br />5 <br />110' or more <br />0 <br />0 <br />TOTAL <br />8,507 <br />494 <br />3owcc. Dcpnrtment of Molor Vehicles <br />Watercraft Type <br />In 1995 the Florida Institute of Technology (FIT) conducted a study of boating activity within <br />the IRL in Indian River and St. Lucie Counties (Morris, el al., 1995). All the information <br />presented under this heading (Watercraft Type) and the following heading (On -Water Traffic <br />Observations) is from this study. The purpose of this study "was to provide baseline data that <br />describes and quantifies boat activity, its pattern and composition" One of the methods used <br />was "on -water surveys of boating activity". Data was collected for each boat encountered <br />(e.g., type and class, location, speed, activity) between 0900 hours and 1500 hours, during the <br />months of September through May and from 0900 hours to 1700 hours from June through <br />August. This survey found that the Class 1 powerboat (16 to 25 feet in length) was the most <br />frequently encountered boat in the IRL comprising 59.2 per cent of all on -water observations. <br />Of the 9985 boats observed 90 per cent were power (all classes), 7 per cent sail (all classes), <br />and 3 per cent jet skies. <br />On -Water Traffic Observations <br />Temporal Patterns <br />In general, the highest boating activity occurs during the afternoon hours. Weekend days <br />account for over 70 percent of boating activity. The highest on -water traffic regularly occurs <br />around holidays. Peak boating use was recorded during the months of May through July while <br />the period from November through January represented the lowest boating use. This seasonal <br />occurrence is partly a reflection of the annual migration of winter residents to central and <br />southern Florida and partly due to weather conditions. <br />Community Development Department Page N <br />