[D22] Fla. Boating Advisory Council - Summary

[C. Henry Depew]

General information for Florida Members -


Florida Boating Advisory Council (BAC) Meeting Summary
      The meeting was held on 1 Sept. using video tele-conferencing to 
tie together members in Ocala, St. Petersbug, Palm Beach, and Tallahassee.  
The concept worked quite well.

For member's information the following was noted:

     The problem with marinas requiring people to evacuate their slips after 
the hurricane warning for the area is posted (such action is in violation of 
state law).  There is also a problem with "salvage" after a storm goes
through 
on vessels that do not need such action.  The FWC enforcement staff is
working 
on possible solutions.


Among the items discussed were:

    The proposal by the boating industry for the creation of a boating
speciality 
tag and the requirements for such a tag to be considered ($60,000 fee, need
to 
sell 30,000 tags, signatures supporting the tag, etc.).  The costs, gathering 
of signatures, and related requirement completion involved would be borne by 
the sponsoring group.  The BAC was asked for its support of the concept.

    The BAC has five (5) positions open for renewal or replacement.  The 
information, application forms, etc. are on their web-site at -
              http://myfwc.com/law/council/index.html

    A proposal has been made to re-structure the BAC to better reflect
current 
boating activities/problems.  The current statue was written in 1994 and has 
not changed much since then.  Part of the discussion revolved around
appointed 
members not attending the quarterly meetings and the inability (under current 
law) to allow a stand-in.  There was also some concern about the size of the 
BAC (17 members at present) and its composition.  The information gathered 
from the BAC members attending the meeting will be incorporated into the
draft 
proposal that will be considered by the Fish and Wildlife Conservation 
Commission at its meeting later this month in St. Petersburg.

     The potential problem of contacting law enforcement (Homeland
Security) for
on the water situations was discussed.  The Tampa Bay Port Security people
are 
using 911 even though there are a number of 800 numbers that can be used to 
report suspicious activity.  Most of the state has one (or more) of the 800 
numbers posted at marinas.  It may be necessary to post the numbers at launch 
ramps.

     The National Transportation Safety Board and the National Association
of Safe 
Boating Law Administrators are both pushing PFD education at the moment.  The 
BAC was asked for a position on mandatory wearing of PFDs.  Since neither of 
the national groups are pushing mandatory wearing of PFDs, the BAC members 
elected to recommend more education.  [Personal note - the compliance with
the 
education effort is counted as the number of persons in boats (on the water) 
who are wearing PFD whether needed or not (sunny day on flat water).  Thus, 
educated people who decided there is no need to wear their PFD will count in 
the same "non-wear" observation as those who have no idea what they are
doing.]

     The three workshops on the proposed changes to rule 68D-36, FAC (see 
earlier e-mail) was reviewed.  The idea is to get input from those renting 
vessels as to what will actually work before writing any changes.

     Three items on the agenda were deferred so that those members along the 
east coast (and inland) could get to work on preparing for Francis.  Thus the 
meeting ended around 1300 instead of its usual 1600.  The deferred items will
be taken up at the next BAC meeting in December.

P/C C. Henry Depew, SN
Crystal River