The Disappearing Anchor-Outs Community of Marin County

The Anchor-Outs community of Marin County is disappearing; is the battle a matter of rich vs. poor or right vs. wrong?

It’s easy to look at the battle over Marin’s anchor-outs boating community as a David vs. Goliath situation. However, those who can afford to live in Marin County, California, are some of the wealthiest in the country. It would be so easy to make these elite residents the story’s villain, but are they all that wrong?

It should be said it is illegal to live a Bay Area anchor-outs lifestyle. Boats are only allowed to anchor for a limited time before they dock or move on. These communities have been left alone for decades, but now, Marin residents are fighting back.

The anchor-outs community of Marin consists of run-down vessels of all kinds. And while some petty landowners are only worried about their views, some have more pressing worries. These boats are littered with hazards like gas cans, and because the ships are quickly eroding, there are serious environmental concerns.

Now that law enforcement is beginning to crack down on the anchors-outs, community members are losing their homes and worldly possessions. Many have moved into a nearby homeless camp because they cannot afford to live in the area after losing their boat.

It’s hard to know who to side with in this matter. On the one hand, these boats have damaged landowners’ property, fallen apart in the water, and illegally resided in the Bay for a long time. But on the other hand, it’s hard not to sympathize with the “little guy” losing their home and the only possessions they have left.

Watch the Vice report below and see if you can decide who’s right in the anchors-out debate:

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