Personal Watercraft Industry’s Model Legislation

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Ms. Maureen A. Healey

Executive Director, Personal Watercraft Industry Association

The personal watercraft (PWC) industry supports strong boating laws and their strict enforcement, as well as mandatory boater education for operators.

To do our part, the industry encourages state lawmakers to enact industry-backed model legislation that encourages all states to set a minimum age of 16 to operate a PWC (18 for rentals) and requires all personal watercraft operators, regardless of age and experience, to pass a boater education course.

In addition, the industry advocates for personal watercraft use only during daylight hours; laws against reckless operation; and rules regarding operation within 100 feet of shore, anchored boats, piers, or swimmers.

For more information visit http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.



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The Non-profit Organization Grant Program

Partnering to improve boating safety—Part 1.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Donald J. Kerlin, Chief, Program Management Branch and Ms. Linda Gray-Broughton, former Non-profit Organization Grant Coordinator, U.S. Coast Guard Boating Safety Division

The Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971 established the Recreational Boating Safety Federal Financial Assistance Program to permit states to assume a larger share of boating safety education, assistance, and enforcement activities. Of the funds appropriated for these programs, the Coast Guard is authorized to retain up to five percent for grants to national non-profit public service organizations.

The Process
The grant process begins with an announcement through the website http://www.grants.gov/, which includes a listing of suggested topic areas that receive additional points in the scoring process. About $6,000,000 is available for non-profit organizations each year.

Subject matter experts review each application using a “merit review” checklist, which focuses on technical merit, personnel qualifications, and the degree to which a proposal offers potential value and measurements to program goals.

Those applications meeting review standards (60 to 80 per year) are forwarded to the non-profit organization grant review team, which ranks selections based on parameters including:

• support of National Recreational Boating Safety Program goals,


• probability of project success,


• return on investment.

A grantee must be a national non-profit public service organization and the project must have the potential to benefit recreational boating safety at a national level.

Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

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The USCG Marine Patrol Officer Course

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Mike Baron, Recreational Boating Safety Specialist, U.S. Coast Guard Boating Safety Division Program Operations Branch

To meet the requirements of the Federal Boating Safety Act of 1971, the Coast Guard established the National Boating Safety School. Although the course was originally focused on federal requirements and basic boating safety law enforcement techniques, over the years legislation was enacted that required states to take the primary role in their own recreational boating programs.

In support of these new requirements, the Coast Guard launched the National Safe Boating Instructor Course in 1983 with a curriculum focused on training law enforcement officers to conduct boating safety classes for the public while also training fellow marine patrol officers as instructors.

In 2000 the curriculum was updated to include practical field knowledge, training methodologies, and skills, and the course name was changed to the Marine Patrol Officer Course.

Curriculum
The course is two weeks long and is conducted four times each year.
During the first week, students alternate between training methodologies and skills development to develop a training session based on the federal carriage requirements for recreational boating safety. The officers present their training session at the end of the week to the other officers in class and the MPOC staff.

The second week is devoted to field skills. Coast Guard Law Enforcement Academy staff conduct training on boating under the influence regulations and detection, firearms laws, navigation rules scenarios, and water survival techniques. National Association of State Boating Law Administrator instructors conduct training on boating accident response and the reporting process. An instructor and certified marine investigator from the International Association of Marine Investigators conduct classroom training on stolen boat identification, followed by a practical field exercise.

Attendees also practice tactical procedures in “shoot houses.” These scenarios are performed in a mock-up building that resembles a ship as well as aboard a former break bulk freighter-turned-training-platform that is part of the FLETC’s training resource inventory.

Who Attends MPOC
The Marine Patrol Officer Course is open to all federal, state, and local marine patrol officers. As the course curriculum is not designed for senior boating safety officers, the preferred candidate possesses less than seven years of experience in boating safety. The ideal candidate demonstrates good potential to train fellow law enforcement officers or to teach boating safety to the public.

The student’s agency or department is responsible for transportation to and from Charleston, S.C. The Coast Guard provides all training materials, lodging, and meals. To date nearly 3,000 marine patrol officers have graduated.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

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The Recreational Boating Safety State Grant Program—Part 2

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine

Program Areas:

Administration. A major facet under this category would be states’ boating accident reporting systems, which help the Coast Guard understand the causes of accidents to more effectively address the issues that may prevent them.

Law Enforcement, including accident investigations, stolen vessel investigations, and boater assistance.

Education. In 2008 almost 43 percent of the boater safety certificates issued were the result of an Internet or home study course, while 57 percent of participants attended classroom courses taught by state education specialists, state RBS officers, state volunteers, the Coast Guard Auxiliary, or the U.S. Power Squadrons.

Registration and Titling. Since the Federal Boating Safety Act of 1958, states and territories have had the authority to register and require vessels to be numbered. Revenue from registration fees is used to fund state boating safety programs in many states, and is a source of matching dollars for federal RBS grants.

Navigation Aids. With the increased number of boats on the water, there is a growing need for buoys, signs, and other waterway markers. These “signposts of the water” mark restrictions implemented under marine traffic management and provide important information to boaters.

Public Access. Since the mid-1980s acquisition, development, and maintenance of public access facilities has been an allowable cost for RBS grant funds.

What Have We Accomplished?

Through our efforts and those of our partners, recreational boating fatalities have been reduced from a high of 1,754 in 1973 to 709 in 2008 even though the number of recreational boats nearly doubled (from about 6.3 million to about 12.3 million).

Our partners include:
National Association of State Boating Law Administrators
the Coast Guard Auxiliary

U.S. Power Squadrons

the National Recreational Boating Safety Coalition

National Safe Kids Campaign

Mothers Against Drunk Driving

the American Medical Association
the American Academy of Pediatrics

the National Boating Federation

National Water Safety Congress

U.S. Sailing Association

Boat Owners Association of the United States

the American Canoe Association

For more information:Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010

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The Recreational Boating Safety State Grant Program—Part 1

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. Gary Jensen and Ms. Lynne McMahan, U.S. Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety

The Recreational Boating Safety State Grant Program was established in 1973, on the heels of the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971, to supplement Coast Guard efforts. Although the Coast Guard is statutorily responsible for maritime safety, we are not staffed or funded to maintain an effective recreational boating safety program by ourselves.

User Pays/User Benefits
Funding for the program currently comes from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, which gets its revenue, in part, from federal excise taxes on motorboat fuel, taxes on sport fishing equipment, and import duties on fishing tackle, yachts, and pleasure boats.

No general tax revenues are used—the funds come from the people who benefit from the services.

To be eligible for funds, a recreational boating safety program must have:

• a vessel numbering system,
• a cooperative boating safety assistance program with the Coast Guard,
• sufficient patrol and other activity to ensure adequate enforcement of applicable state boating safety laws and regulations,
• a sufficient state boating safety education program that includes disseminating information concerning the hazards of operating a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs,
• a marine casualty reporting system.

How Does This Work?
Of the funds appropriated for the state grant program, the Coast Guard is authorized to retain not more than two percent for the costs of administering it, and up to five percent for grants to national non-profit public service organizations to conduct national boating safety activities.

The balance is allocated as follows:

• One-third is allocated equally among participating states.
• One-third is allocated in the same ratio as the number of vessels numbered in the state bears to the number of vessels numbered in all participating states.
• One-third is allocated in the same ratio as the amount of the state’s prior-year expenditures for boating safety bears to the total prior-year expenditures for boating safety of all participating states.

A state cannot receive more than one-half of the total cost of its program, and funds may only be used for certain purposes.

Examples include:

• Providing facilities, equipment, and supplies for boating safety education and law enforcement.
• Training personnel in skills related to boating safety and enforcement of boating safety laws.
• Providing public boating safety education.
• Acquiring, constructing, or repairing public access sites used primarily by recreational boaters.
• Conducting boating safety inspections and marine casualty investigations.
• Establishing and maintaining emergency or search and rescue facilities, and providing emergency or search and rescue assistance.
• Establishing and maintaining waterway markers and other appropriate aids to navigation.
• Providing state recreational vessel numbering and titling programs.

In part 2 we will discuss program areas and results.

For more information:
Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

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Strategic Planning: Plotting a course for change.

Excerpt from U.S. Coast Guard Proceedings of the Marine Safety & Security Council magazine by Mr. James P. Muldoon, Chairman, National Boating Safety Advisory Council. Mr. Fred F. Messmann, Deputy Director, National Safe Boating Council

Recreational boating is a fun and generally safe activity, but every year hundreds die in accidents and thousands more are injured. Considering that approximately 77 million Americans participate in recreational boating, these numbers are statistically low. However, these deaths and injuries are preventable.

The most frequent causes of recreational boating accidents are:

• Drowning. Causes: lack of boating safety knowledge, lack of life jackets, life jackets not worn, inability to swim, operating in heavy weather, alcohol or drug abuse.
• Falls Overboard. Causes: overloading, lack of safety knowledge, operator inattention, boat design, weather, alcohol or drug abuse.
• Collision with Vessel/Collision with Fixed Object (allision). Causes: lack of boating safety knowledge, operator inattention, no proper lookout, disregard of navigation rules.

The National Boating Safety Advisory Council strategic planning panel drafted a list of strategies to increase awareness of boating safety by promoting a message similar to the “Smokey the Bear” forest fire prevention campaign.

Wear It
The focus: Increasing life jacket wear rates, interventions for boating under the influence, ensuring manufacturer compliance with federal regulations, and increasing frequency and accuracy in reporting of boating accidents.

National Recreational Boating Survey
Additionally, the USCG Boating Safety Division is working with boating safety experts to develop the National Recreational Boating Survey, which will provide scientific information about boaters’ behavior to compare to fatality and injury data to identify the greatest risks. The survey will be administered every two years.

The strategic plan will be reviewed every five years to:

• Determine progress.
• Analyze measurements.
• Consider new strategies.

We invite you to study our plan, process, and progress at www.uscgboating.org. We are currently finalizing the next iteration of the plan for the years 2012-2017 and we invite you and your organization to help us implement it to save lives.

Full article is available at http://www.uscg.mil/proceedings/fall2010.

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