Police warning boaters to slow down on PM Lake

LUDINGTON — The Ludington Police Department has been receiving increased complaints of violation of the no wake zone on Pere Marquette Lake, according to Chief Mark Barnett.

“With increased numbers of fishing boats in the channel and P.M. Lake it is even more important that boaters comply with the no wake zone,” Barnett said.

According to Ludington city code section 66-30, “A person operating or propelling a vessel in the harbor of the city shall operate it in a careful and prudent manner and at a rate of speed so as not to endanger unreasonably the life or property of any other person. A person shall not operate any vessel at a rate of speed that will permit him, in the exercise of reasonable care, to bring the vessel to a stop within the assured clear distance ahead. A person shall not operate a vessel in a manner so as to interfere unreasonably with the lawful use by others of the harbor.”

The code also states: “It shall be unlawful for the operator of a vessel, craft or float to exceed a slow, no wake speed on the waters of Pere Marquette Lake and the connecting channel to Lake Michigan, the city, and the Township of Pere Marquette, Mason County, from the outer breakwater entrance to a line beginning from the westernmost portion of Yacht Club Peninsula, thence west to the nearest possible shore. The term ‘slow, no wake’ shall be defined as a very slow speed whereby the wake or wash created by the vessel would be minimal.

The No Wake Zone is also found on the Michigan D.N.R. website at:  http://www.michigan.gov/dnr/0,4570,7-153-10366_37141_37701-38794–,00.html