Boat Regulations, Milwaukee Harbor.
Milwaukee Code of Ordinances § 118-80
in effect118-80. Boat Regulations, Milwaukee Harbor.
1. STATE REGULATIONS. The city of Milwaukee adopts ch. 30, Wis. Stats., and all subsequent amendments thereto, and ch. NR 5, Wis. Adm. Code, as amended, as part of this code defining and describing regulations with respect to boating regulations upon the waters of the city and for which the penalty for violations thereof is a forfeiture only, including penalties to be imposed.
2.
DEFINITIONS. In this section:
a. "Inner harbor" includes the Milwaukee River from Lake Michigan to the dam, and that portion across the dam to the city limits, and all those portions of the Kinnickinnic River and the Menomonee River, including the canals, water channels and slips as laid out and established by authority of the city charter and amendments thereto.
b. "Municipal Mooring Basin" includes those waters of the Kinnickinnic River lying south of the Harbor entrance and downstream from the Chicago & North Western Transportation Co. swing bridge.
c. "Outer harbor" includes all waters of Lake Michigan within the government breakwater, known as the "harbor of refuge" and all waters of Lake Michigan between the rubble mound shore protection south of the government breakwater and the lake shoreline of the city of Milwaukee.
d. "Waters of the city" means any navigable waters within the limits of this city. For the purposes of this section, the easterly boundary of the city of Milwaukee and its harbor is the center line of Lake Michigan coincident with the easterly boundary of the state of Wisconsin and said city limits are bounded on the north by East Edgewood Avenue extending to the center line of Lake Michigan and bounded on the south by an imaginary line 500 feet south and parallel to the center line of East Oklahoma Avenue extended to the center line of Lake Michigan.
3. SPEED RESTRICTIONS. No person shall operate a motorboat at a speed in excess of the posted notice established by regulatory markers as follows:
a. Five miles per hour, slow no wake, in the inner harbor.
b. Five miles per hour, slow no wake, in the McKinley mooring areas.
c. Five miles per hour, slow no wake, in the south shore mooring areas.
d. Five miles per hour, slow no wake, in the gaps of the government breakwater and in the breakwater rubble mound of the outer harbor.
e. Exceptions. Rowing teams shall be allowed to operate a motor chase boat at speeds up to 15 miles per hour in the following portions of the Milwaukee River system, provided that the chase boat does not operate within 100 feet of any vessel or floating pier within the river systems, except other rowing team vessels, within 150 feet of any vessel or floating pier within the Municipal Mooring Basin, or within the canal system:
e-1. On the Milwaukee River from the North Avenue Dam to the Pleasant Street Bridge.
e-2. On the Menomonee River from approximately North 25th Street east to the CP/Soo Line swing bridge at the confluence of the Milwaukee and Menomonee Rivers.
e-3. In the Municipal Mooring Basin.
f. Exemption. City-sponsored civic celebrations or temporary special events involving boating activities, such as jet skiing and water skiing, held on the Milwaukee River from the North Avenue Dam to the mouth of the Milwaukee River near the Lake Freeway, shall be exempt from the speed restrictions provided in this subsection.
g. Outer Harbor; Special Events.
g-1. Declaration. The harbor master may declare and enforce a temporary speed limit of 5 miles per hour, slow no wake, in the outer harbor or any portion thereof before, during and after a lakefront fireworks display or other special event for which the harbor master determines the expected volume of watercraft traffic is such that operation above the speed of 5 miles per hour, slow no wake, will be unsafe. In determining whether a temporary speed limit should be declared, the harbor master may consult with the United States Coast Guard, the police department or the Wisconsin department of natural resources.
g-2. Public Notice. Any speed limit declared under this paragraph shall be announced to the boating public on the marine broadcast radio. Public notice of this speed restriction shall be provided by the harbor master or harbor master=s designee on a periodic basis beginning 2 hours before the start of the special event and ending 2 hours after the conclusion of the event, and as crowd control requires.
g-3. Assistance from Yacht Club. The harbor master or the harbor master=s designee shall request the assistance of the South Shore Yacht Club in preparing printed notices of each year’s special events for which temporary speed restrictions will be declared under subd. 1.
4. SPEAR GUNS. No person shall fire or discharge or permit to be fired or discharged any spear gun within the limits of the city.
5. LITTERING WATERS PROHIBITED. No person shall deposit, place or throw from any boat, raft, pier, platform or similar structure any cans, paper, bottles, debris, refuse, garbage, solid or liquid waste or any other foreign matter in the waters of the city.
6. SKIN DIVING AND WATER SKIING. No skin diving or water skiing will be permitted in the inner harbor or outer harbor without a permit.
7. SWIMMING. No person shall swim within the inner harbor or outer harbor of Lake Michigan within the city. This subsection does not prohibit wading. "Wading" shall mean walking through water and keeping one's feet on the bed of the lake.
8. PERMITS FOR ACTIVITIES WITHIN CITY LIMITS. a. Daily permits for motorboat regattas, motorboat races, water skiing or skin diving in the inner harbor or the outer harbor, exhibition speedboat trials, water ski or aquaplane exhibitions or aquatic events, shall be issued through the board of harbor commissioners, following notification of the Milwaukee police department harbor patrol by the municipal port director upon application made in writing provided that:
a-1. In the municipal port director's opinion such particular use of the harbor can be carried out in an orderly fashion without danger to all other vessels, craft or floats and other harbor uses and operations without undue inconvenience or jeopardy to the public.
a-2. The permittee or grantee shall agree to hold the city of Milwaukee harmless from any and all claims and causes of action arising out of damages to persons or property by reason of granting of such permit.
a-3. The permittee or grantee shall file with the board of harbor commissioners a certificate of insurance indicating the permittee or grantee holds a public liability policy in such amount, in the discretion of the municipal port director, as will adequately cover bodily injury and property damage but shall not be in excess of $500,000 covering bodily injury to more than one person, $100,000 covering bodily injury to more than one person during the event, $100,000 covering property damage to any one owner and $200,000 covering property damage to all owners in any one event.
b. In the event the municipal port director denies an application for a permit, the application shall, upon written demand of the applicant to the municipal port director, be referred to the board of harbor commissioners for final determination.
c. Sailing craft, sailing races and sailing regattas are specifically exempted from these provisions; however, yacht clubs or any other organizations conducting events of this nature shall file, in triplicate with the harbor master, a schedule of sailing craft events not less than 48 hours in advance of the event.
d. Boats and participants in such permitted event shall have the right of way on the permitted area and no other person shall obstruct such area during the event or interfere therewith.
e. A permit fee shall be paid in full for each permit issued. See s. 81-12.5.
9. MOORING REGULATIONS. a. Definitions. In this subsection:
a-1. "Anchorage" means the weight that holds the buoy or winter pole in place at the bottom of the harbor.
a-2. "Board" means the board of harbor commissioners.
a-3. "Buoy" means a floating object secured to the bottom of the harbor to mark a boat's mooring location.
a-4. "Mooring" means an arrangement for securing a boat to a buoy in water to maintain its location.
a-5. "Top of the scope" means a line that tethers a boat to a buoy.
a-6. "Winter pole" means a floating object secured to the bottom of the harbor to make a mooring during the winter months.
b. Authority to Regulate Mooring Areas. As provided in s. 30.773, Wis. Stats., the board may establish designated mooring areas in navigable waters.
c. Permit Required. No person shall moor a boat in the inner or outer areas of the Milwaukee Harbor, as defined in sub. 2-a and c, without first having obtained a mooring permit from the board.
d. Permit Applications. Applications for mooring permits shall be obtained from and filed with the board.
e. Permit Card. Each mooring shall have affixed to the buoy or winter pole, plainly visible above the water line, a non-removable, plastic permit card, with the permit number clearly visible. In addition, identical permit cards shall be attached to the anchorage and the top of the scope. The cards shall be a size and composition to be determined by the board and shall be furnished to the permittee by the board when the appropriate fee is paid.
f. Fee. See s. 81-75 for the required fee for a mooring permit.
g. Violations. Any mooring violating the provisions of this subsection shall be removed at the owner's expense. Any boat moored to an unregistered buoy shall be removed at the owner's expense and impounded by the board.
h. Penalty. Any person found guilty of violating the provisions of this subsection shall be subject to a forfeiture of not more than $50 for the first violation nor less than $100 for a second or subsequent violation in any permit year, from July 1 through June 30.
10.
SAFETY REQUIREMENTS.
a. Personal Flotation Devices for Children. In accordance with 33 CFR 175.15(c), any child under 13 years of age shall wear a U.S. coast guard-approved personal flotation device on any recreational vessel while underway in the navigable waters of the city unless the child is below deck or in an enclosed cabin.
b. Sound-Signaling Appliances. All vessels operating in the navigable waters of the city shall be equipped with sound-signaling appliances as follows:
b-1. Vessel less than 39.4 feet in length: Some means of making an efficient sound signal. Examples of means of making an efficient sound signal include, but are not limited to, a handheld air horn, and athletic whistle and a manufacturer-installed horn. A human voice or sound is not an acceptable means of making an efficient sound signal.
b-2. Vessel 39.4 feet or greater in length: A sound-signaling appliance capable of producing an efficient sound signal, audible for one-half mile with a duration of 4 to 6 seconds. In addition, the vessel shall carry on board a bell with a clapper. The bell shall measure not less than 7.9 inches in diameter at the mouth.
c. Visual Distress Signals. Every vessel 16 feet or more in length, every vessel operating as an uninspected passenger vessel, regardless of size, and every vessel less than 16 feet in length operating between sunset and sunrise shall have on board, when operating in the navigable waters of the city, one or more of the following numbers and combinations of visual distress signals:
c-1. One distress flag and one electric distress light.
c-2. Three orange smoke and one electric distress light.
c-3. Three red flare distress signals, whether hand-held, parachute or aerial.
d. Exceptions. The requirements of par. c shall not apply to any of the following, unless operating between sunset and sunrise:
d-1. A vessel competing in an organized marine event, such as a race, regatta or parade.
d-2. A manually-propelled vessel.
d-3. A sailboat of open construction that is not equipped with propulsion machinery and is under 26 feet in length.
Source: City of Milwaukee Legislative Reference Bureau, Milwaukee City Charter and Code of Ordinances (city.milwaukee.gov master PDFs)URL: https://city.milwaukee.gov/ImageLibrary/Groups/ccClerk/Ordinances/Volume-1/CH118.pdf#page=24Fetched: 10/26/2026