Would mandatory licensing change things?

[svspirited]

I've been boating now for over 20 years in the U.S. and the level of poor seamanship that I see year in and year out often has me shaking my head. I know many never bother to pick up a book or learn about the various rules of the road and it shows in how improperly some operate their vessels. For a while I had thought the bad behavior was just a reflection of the fact that manners seems to be a thing of the past but as I have gotten to know more people that are in the "I have no idea what I am doing but I had the money and I wanted a boat" camp I am thinking more and more that it is simply a lack of education. Simple things like understanding the give-way rules, simple knot tying, basics of anchoring, basic navigation, etc are just not understood.

I saw this most starkly when my father had to go through the process of getting a license in Washington to operate his little 16 foot fishing boat after having cruised around the waters of New York for well over 30 years. He was amazed at just how much he had been doing wrong for so long and just how little he really knew.

So, do you think mandatory licensing would help reduce poor seamanship? For those in places where this is in effect what are your thoughts on how it has affected the operation of boats in your area? I'm not a fan of having to ask for government permission to do things but I fear as the more money than experience crowd grows the waters around here will just get more dangerous.