Winston Davies has commercial fished for 30 years, the past 20 years as owner of his own vessel. He’s also taught the past 22 years, much of that time as the high school shop teacher after years of teaching math and science.

He knows building boats, working aboard boats and he knows about problem boats, and he wants to see the borough continue toward adopting rules for removing inactive — derelict — boats from the harbors to make room for working boats on the waitlist for moorage.

Davies is running for reelection to a second three-year term on the port commission. He and incumbent John Yeager are running unopposed for the two three-year seats on the Oct. 7 municipal election ballot.

Port commissioners started discussions at their Sept. 4 meeting of a proposed ordinance to define inactive vessels, set standards to prove a boat is seaworthy, impose additional storage fees and require condition surveys and insurance to protect the harbor and other boat owners.

“The biggest thing we’ve dealt with is the derelict vessel … and that ties into the insurance issue,” Davies said of his first term on the port commission.

The harbormaster reported to the commission last month that about a dozen inactive boats are taking up moorage space, with more than 25 boats on the waitlist.

The port commission and assembly spent several months last year considering mandatory insurance for all harbor users — not just derelict or inactive boats — but dropped the idea amid community opposition and problems in setting a required level of coverage.

“It was our impression that it would be really hard to force people to get insurance,” Davies said.

Adopting rules to push owners of inactive boats to either make repairs or move out of the harbor seems like a good alternative to mandatory insurance for everyone, he said.

Other communities in Southeast have been confronting the problem in their harbors of inactive boats which present a risk of fires or sinking and damaging other boats nearby.

In other port commission issues, Davies likes the idea of the borough and American Cruise Lines working together to build a new dock downtown to accommodate the company’s small ships for overnight stays.

“It’s the perfect size cruise ship for Wrangell,” he said. The company’s ships carry a maximum of 170 passengers.

He is skeptical, however, of the proposal to build a new barge landing and freight yard on the borough-owned property at 6-Mile, rather than keeping the operation downtown. Davies is concerned that the 12-mile round trip for deliveries could add to the cost of freight services in Wrangell.

“I am pretty much against it … but I could be wrong.” He added, “I haven’t seen the numbers” that could change his mind.

The port commission serves an advisory role to the borough assembly, which makes the final decision on ordinances and property leases.

Davies is supportive of the borough’s efforts to collect more revenue at the Marine Service Center to ensure it will have enough money on hand when it needs to replace one of the boat lifts or other pieces of expensive equipment.

“We’re just trying to plan ahead for the future,” he said, while remaining competitive on rates with other shipyards.

“We really want to support our skilled tradesmen in the Marine Service Center,” he said of ensuring that Wrangell holds onto boat services work. The community’s reputation for its talented marine services workers is a big drawing point. “That’s why people come here,” he said.