Harbour users have launched a campaign calling on Moray Council to reconsider a string of controversial price increases.
Boat owners at Hopeman are petitioning councillors to send a series of unpopular changes back to the drawing board.
Last year, it emerged the area’s six publicly-owned ports were running at a collective loss of £135,000 every year.
The authority rubber-stamped proposals to raise berthing fees across the board, and remove a 25% over-60s discount, in a bid to recoup some of the deficit.
Under the new system, prices for pontoon hire will escalate from £40 to £60 per metre and from £40 to £50 for vessels which are berthed by harbour walls.
The increase, along with the removal of the seniors discount, will mean older people have to pay twice as much as they do at the moment.
Hopeman harbour users have slated the move, claiming pensioners will be deprived of their hobby in struggling to pay higher fees.
A petition in the Footprints shop beside the port has attracted 50 signatures – more than half of the harbour’s users.
Boat owner, Ian McCulloch, launched the crusade in an effort to prompt some further investigation into the proposed changes.
The 57-year-old said: “The people that have signed the petition represent the bulk of the harbour’s pontoon users.
“We all agree that there has to be an increase in charges, but the amount has caused some unhappiness.
“We haven’t got the council harbours into this debt, so we shouldn’t have to pay for it.
“There are quite a few lads in their 70s, and their boats are their hobby, it’s not like these are wealthy people on yachts.
“We just want things to be retooled.”
During a stormy council meeting last year, Heldon and Laich member Dennis Slater stipulated that the extra income generated by increasing rates be used to add water and power supplies to Hopeman, Findochty, Cullen and Portknockie harbours.
But Mr McCulloch countered that Mr Slater’s idea would be a “waste of money”.
He added: “We don’t want water and electric at Hopeman and were never consulted about this idea.”
Last night, Mr Slater said the council would discuss Mr McCulloch’s concerns, and stressed his priority was ensuring the region’s harbours become sustainable.