A few floating structures that were once businesses selling goods to people on Crab Island are now abandoned and anchored in the Destin Harbor.

City officials are considering regulating floating businesses that drop anchor in the Destin Harbor and bayous after spending the summer selling goods at CrabIsland.

This past summer, over a dozen businesses housed in floating structures permanently dropped anchor at CrabIsland to serve food and drinks and sell goods to boaters.

And then, when the summer ended, most of them disappeared, but at least three of them moved and dropped anchor in the middle of the Destin Harbor.

Local officials and residents are fearful that if this trend continues, Destin’s waterways will eventually become cluttered with abandoned floating structures whose owners drop their anchors and then leave them there for months at a time.

“It’s just not right to have somebody who wants to sell stuff at Crab Island and then when the season’s over, they just leave (their structure) in the harbor,” said Destin City Councilman Tuffy Dixon, who has been one of the most outspoken critics of what he calls “junk” sitting in the harbor and bayous.

Destin City Manager Carisse LeJeune said that city staff is currently working on an “informational report” that would explore ways the city could go about establishing regulations to prevent floating businesses from abandoning their structures in Destin waterways. The city council is set to review that report at the Nov. 21 ity council meeting, and LeJeune said she expects the council will begin policy discussions after that.

LeJeune added that it’s important to distinguish between abandoned floating businesses and other types of structures anchored in the harbor.

“These vessels can be categorized into three different types,” she said. “One is a live-aboard vessel, the other kind is a non-live aboard vessel, and then we have floating structures. And the difference between a non-live aboard vessel and a floating structure is that a non-live aboard vessel will have motors and floating structures do not.”

She said it’s the floating structures that council is most concerned about, though Dixon is worried that some of the structures’ owners were finding ways to get around that classification.

“These things are getting by on some technicalities,” he said. “Are these things barges, or are they actually vessels? I think basically all they have to do is hang an outdoor motor on the back of it and it could be considered a vessel.”

He added that he believes if council doesn’t act soon, Destin’s waterways could soon be in serious trouble.

“Our harbors and our bayous need to be clear of all that junk and not have it to where it’s an eyesore,” he said. “If we don’t get a handle on it, it’s going to get out of control. I’m real worried about boats accumulating. Some of them are taking advantage of a loophole in the law, and my goal would be to do everything we can to close up that loophole.”