"The Coast Guard used to be viewed as a friend of recreational boaters, but now they've become more of a police force and they're perceived as less friendly," says Jim Welday, 63, a longtime boater on Chesapeake Bay who owns a 19-foot rigid inflatable that he operates on the South River just below Annapolis. "It's just a sign of the times."
CHANGING TIMES
COAST GUARD CUTTER HICKORYThe crew of the Coast Guard Cutter Hickory keeps watch on the stern tow. The Coast Guard still performs rescue missions when life is at stake, but routine calls for fuel or mechanical trouble are now largely handled by private towing companies.
And there's more on the way. Coast Guard Commandant Thad W. Allen served notice last summer that he believes the nation is vulnerable to terrorist attacks by saboteurs using small airplanes and recreational boats, and he'd like to tighten procedures for keeping tabs on pleasure-craft and for identifying those who operate them.
While the Coast Guard has no firm plans yet for issuing small-vessel security regulations, it's clearly exploring its options. This year the service is asking Congress to require recreational boaters to show boarding officers a photo-I.D. card, such as a driver's license. (Under current law, boaters may refuse to do so.)
Unless Congress intervenes, the service also may end up having to write–and enforce–new court-ordered regulations on ballast-water discharges which critics say could cost pleasure-boaters hundreds of dollars. A judge recently ordered the new standards for merchant ships, which routinely take on and expel large qualities of water to stabilize their loads, but did not exempt small boats.
To be sure, the Coast Guard is a long way from abandoning recreational boaters. Its crews still rescue pleasure-craft that are in imminent danger. It is installing a state-of-the-art communications system that can pinpoint vessels in distress. And it is improving safety regulations, such as requirements for wearing life-jackets.
Still, much of the direct contact with recreational boaters that the Coast Guard used to have is now being made by state agencies or private groups. State governments now do the lion's share of rulemaking regarding recreational boats, set boater-education requirements, and enforce most maritime laws applying to pleasure-craft. The Coast Guard provides grants to states to help finance such programs. Last year, they totaled $106 million.
State marine police and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary–the service's 27,000-member volunteer arm–conduct on-the-water boater assistance patrols, towing stranded boaters back to port (provided they haven't yet called a commercial towing firm). They also teach boating safety, along with organizations like the U.S. Power Squadrons.
The changes in the Coast Guard's relationship with recreational boaters have been evolving slowly. Back in the 1970s, the Coast Guard was known mainly as a search-and-rescue agency. It also did other jobs, from maintaining navigation aids to overseeing marine licensing procedures. But it all added up to helping mariners.
