Following a six-month pause in the wake of damage to county park gulf and bay access boat launch facilities, the Sarasota County Commission on Jan. 27 unanimously approved implementing a pilot program that requires charter boat captains to purchase permits to operate at county-owned ramps and seawalls.
In June 2025, commissioners suspended the program to enable fishing and sight-seeing charters to recover in the aftermath of the 2024 hurricane season. On her last day as director of the county Park, Recreation and Natural Resources Department, new Assistant County Administrator Nicole Rissler said the issues that led to development of the program still persist in public parks where unauthorized charters have operated for decades, spiking in the Covid and post-pandemic years.
Those issues include passengers occupying limited parking spaces and conflicts with charter businesses that have followed requirements to lawfully operate in the parks…