A new rule targeting people living on boats on the Willamette River and elsewhere has yet to be enforced, but it's already prompting so-called "aquatic squatters" to hoist anchor and be on their way, officials say.

In reality, the two agencies left to deal with complaints of increasing numbers of transient boaters lack the personnel and financial resources to effectively implement the rule, which took effect Jan. 1.

But the

River Patrol unit nonetheless cites the rule as a main factor in the sharp drop of live-in boaters since summer.

"There was a high point when we knew of between 41 and 45 boats we considered transient in our area," said Lt. Travis Gullberg. "That's now down to the mid- to high 20s. People on the water know about the rule, and I think a lot of them are saying it's not worth the risk or bother."

Despite that drop, clusters of live-in boaters remain visible on the river, especially near downtown Portland. At any time, upwards of a dozen boats are tied up to a dock on the river's eastside. Others are anchored just offshore up and down the channel.

The rule, approved by the

late last year, for the first time drew a distinction between commercial and noncommercial boaters.

Previously, people living on boats had to move every 14 days. Regulations said nothing, however, about how far up or down the channel they had to travel.

Now, a boat can remain anchored in one spot for 30 days. After that, it must move at least five nautical miles and can't return to the same area for a full year.

Failure to obey the rule can trigger trespass charges and fines as high as $1,000 a day.

If the new rule's mere existence is helping ease public complaints of blue-tarped boats cluttering scenic waterways, Gullberg is all for it. That's because actual enforcement, he said, would be extremely difficult.

First, the rule's clarification was requested by the Division of State Lands, whose purview includes public waterways. Other than being able to provide written notices to those in violation, the agency lacks any ability to enforce the rule itself.

"We're not staffed to handle this ourselves in any broad, sweeping scope," said Nancy Pustis, the agency's western region manager for land and waterway management. "That's where our partnership with the county comes in. Hopefully, deputies will be able to deliver these notices on a case-by-case basis."

Second, Gullberg said his deputies already have their hands full in their efforts to ensure that boaters have up-to-date registrations and are following all other boating and safety regulations.

Daniel Jimenez, 26, moved to Portland two months ago from Yuma, Arizona. He has been living aboard a boat he bought for $500 and says he will move if a newly clarified state rule is enforced. "But I love it here," he says, "and I'd like to stay."

"They are saying the same thing we are," Gullberg said of the state. "That they don't have the manpower to go out and monitor this on a daily basis, either. But we're all learning as we go here, and we'll certainly do what we can do."

Complaints about increasing numbers of transient boaters started coming in last year. High-rise condominium owners, in particular, griped that boats anchored in the same spot for days or weeks on end spoiled otherwise pristine views.

Additional complaints that some boaters are dumping human and other waste into the river have not been borne out.

"We haven't heard they are doing anything illegal on their boats," said Lt. Marc Warren, enforcement division chief of the U.S. Coast Guard's Columbia River sector. "As long as they aren't in the way of boats coming in, we don't do anything with them."

The owners of several small craft tied up at Duckworth Dock, on the eastside of the Willamette River just upstream from the Steel Bridge near downtown, said they know all about the new rule. Along with everyone else, they said, they are waiting to see what happens next.

"I'm new here so I'll just do what I'm told," said Daniel Jimenez, 26, who came to Portland two months ago from Yuma, Ariz. "But I do know that real enforcement of the rule would move a lot of people off this section of the river."

Jimenez said he didn't know about the pending rule when he bought his boat for $500 from the previous owner.

"I'm guessing he did know about it," Jimenez said, laughing. "I wondered why I got such a good deal."

Still, he's hoping his stay on the Willamette -- "the best place I've lived in a long, long time" -- lasts at least awhile longer.

"I've never met such nice people as I have down here," Jimenez said. "Ever."

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