Assistant harbormaster Bob Bouley said the goal is to get as many boats as possible out on moorings, not clustered on the piers. "We dropped 20 moorings in today," he said Thursday evening. "We don't want to turn any boats away."

High water on Sunday evening coincides with a new moon, bringing higher than normal tidal ranges. The timing is important because the storm seems likely to arrive around the high tide mark at 8 p.m. Tidal extremes might even force the temporary closing of the New Bedford hurricane barrier between now and Irene's landfall.

"I remember during Hurricane Bob, some boats got shut out when the barrier closed," said Phil Mello, a manager at Bergie's Seafood. "They had to ride it out in the deeper water on Buzzards Bay."

The South Terminal will be a busy place for the next two days, Mello said. "We have to stay open till the last minute to unload boats, so we will be jockeying. Once the barrier closes, I expect all the boats will raft up here," he said.

Hurricane Irene could be a "strong Category 2 and borderline Category 3" as it barrels into southern New England on Sunday, a National Weather Service meteorologist in Taunton said Thursday.

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