Kodiak harbor board weighs requiring boat insurance after uninsured sinkings

Kodiak's Port and Harbors Advisory Board on Tuesday will keep working on a rule that would require boats in city harbors to carry insurance, after several uninsured boats sank and left the city and other harbor users with the costs.

Under a draft mooring agreement in the board's meeting packet, boat owners would need at least $2 million per occurrence in commercial general liability insurance. The city's 2007 mooring agreement asks for insurance only when the city believes a boat is unseaworthy, and even then an owner can show a marine surveyor's evidence of seaworthiness instead. Homer requires commercial boats to carry at least $500,000 in coverage, and Seward requires $1 million for boats carrying passengers for hire, according to the packet.

Port Director and Harbormaster Dave Johnson laid out the losses in a Jan. 29 memo to the City Council. The uninsured Ohana sank in February 2024 and caused about $24,800 in damage to harbor infrastructure that the city could not recover. In January, the uninsured Josephine burned and sank, damaging a nearby boat, and the uninsured Lindy II sank at the dock, destroying a finger float and leaving a slip unusable. Other harbor users were left with the costs of refloating and disposing of it.

When the insured fishing vessel La Mer sank at the dock, its insurer paid the city $13,677.71 for float damage. "Without an insurance requirement, the City effectively assumes the role of insurer of last resort for private vessels," Johnson wrote.

The board voted unanimously in April to have staff draft the documents for an insurance requirement. An undated letter to harbor tenants in the packet, signed by Johnson, says turning in proof of insurance, along with an updated moorage agreement and current registration, "will be a condition of moorage effective July 1, 2026." The packet does not say whether the letter was sent or whether the condition is being enforced.

At an Oct. 20 City Council work session, Council member Nick Mangini said the requirement could also help the city confirm boat lengths for billing. A consultants' review found about one in four moorage billing lines it tested did not match the published rate and the signed vessel record, mostly because of length mismatches. "It's a good opportunity to get everybody on a level playing field," Mangini said.

The board meets at 10 am at Fisherman's Hall and will take public comment.