Ahhh, my pet peeve. Moorings.
First, the US government owns the bottom of navigable waterways. They cede the rights to manage those resources as a public trust to the states. There are limitations, such as the USACOR and USCG maintaining some regulatory rights.
Interesting aside here, if the USACOR maintains an area (dredging, breakwaters, etc.) then it's against the rules for a private entity (marina) to profit from that.
The states in New England typically delegate the responsibility of managing moorings to the municipalities.
Historically, the only ones who wanted moorings were fishermen who needed a mooring near enough to shoreside services like docks, and landowners who wanted to keep their boats within sight of their house. In both cases, most municipalities give these groups priority over usable mooring locations.
The key is, the moorings were always just off the town dock, or just off the property owner's land, or just off a marina.
Since moorings had to be near shoreside resources to be useful, this seemed to be the best way to manage that resource in the public trust. Basic economics tells us that this limited resource has a value, and you run into "tragedy of the commons" issues if you make it available for free.
So far, so good.
Enter "destination" moorings. The town clerks in Maine will happily accept mooring fees for moorings set far from shoreside resources, in historic anchoring grounds.
This sets aside that chunk of water for the exclusive use of one individual, 365 days a year. Most only visit their destination moorings on the occasional weekend.
Very quickly, good anchorages are becoming a sea of unused moorings of questionable quality. Cruisers can't anchor there, and taking a mooring is risky. In many places, it's understood that unused private moorings can be taken overnight by cruisers, but that's far from universal.
It comes back to that "public trust" thing. I'm fine with paying a nominal fee for a secure, reliable mooring with shoreside services. I think that anything above $15 to $25 a night seems excessive, but I guess the market will decide that.
What I can't fathom is allowing individuals to "reserve" prime anchorages for their personal use. Especially when they rarely use it. It sounds like Washington State has a better handle on this issue.