BOATING’S BEST CHRISTMAS

By F. Ned Dikmen, Chairman,
Great Lakes Boating Federation

Late this summer, the ballast tank discharge issue that had come to threaten boating’s freedom was finally put to rest. This relief was not won in court. It came from a much higher source: the U.S. Senate, the House of Representatives and President Bush all agreed that recreational boating was worthy of a clean bill of health.

The bill they passed—the Clean Water Act of 2008—re-amended the original Clean Water Act to state that recreational boats are sufficiently clean to navigate freely in freshwater seas and waterways without submitting to discharge regulation.

A federal judge’s order that had called for strict regulation of recreational boating was muted, and boating was once again exempt from harsh regulation that would have stifled its freedom. No government agency will be sticking its nose in boating business anytime soon. Boating is free again at last.

But this epic news came and left without a whimper. Evidently, it was not resounding enough to get the hype it deserved. If there was a celebration to commemorate this major victory for boating, it certainly lacked the luster it deserved.

At a time when our industry is scrambling to find good boating causes to rally for, no one reached out to take this opportunity. Did Grow Boating notice it? What better message could be aired to lure new boaters into the freedom of boating, which can add much to one’s pleasure and the quality of one’s family life?

Very few hobbies can compete with recreational boating for a better quality and value to spend the spare time we have available. There used to be time spent on home improvement that gave value to enriching the family. Now has come the Internet and the e-mail craze that eats much of our free time, leaving very little to ourselves and our families. To attain a maximum benefit for the quality time spent solo or with friends, family and loved ones, no better venues can compete with boating for providing unregulated freedom to be enjoyed.

As we prepare to enter the holiday season—and the many splendid things it has come to symbolize—we wish to pause for a moment and reflect on this win and cherish it. Where would we be without it?

Boating has been given a sled-full of Christmas gifts this year. Along with this celebrated win, we also received the Great Lakes Compact, with its foresighted plans now locked in place to safeguard our waters and their health for generations to come. Our waters have been preserved in the face of threats of siphoning. With the Coast Guard Authorization Act of 2008, new regulations have improved the treatment of commercial shipping ballast, thus shutting the gates on invasive species to the relief of 73 percent of our boating readers who like to fish. The Legacy Act that also became law comes armed with strong legislation reauthorizing a federal program, for two years at $54 million annually, to clean up toxic contaminants from rivers and harbors that feed into the Great Lakes.

Boaters should recognize the importance of all this new legislation. It seems that boaters have come a long way toward finally being recognized, at long last, and being counted as one of the stakeholders of the Great Lakes. For too long recreational boats were seen as a polluting nuisance, as the enemy of the freshwater seas, as motorized vehicles that must be tolerated by the hardcore environmentalists, and were accused of playing a part in importing aquatic nuisances into the Great Lakes and other freshwater seas.

Now all that bad rap has been finally swept aside. As many ports on the Great Lakes say goodbye to commercial navigation replacing it with the clean recreational boating alternative, perception is starting to shift, especially with the revelation that the annual recreational boating impact on the Great Lakes economy is topping $16 billion.

With other stakeholders finally recognizing this value, it’s important that boaters do not become careless. Boaters have long been some of the most important stewards of our nation’s and Canada’s waterways. In the wake of this new recognition of boaters as integral to the health of our waters, it’s important that boaters meet the expectation that they will act as stewards for cleaner lakes.

There are some things to worry about this year, but boating should not be one of them. As winter approaches, boaters should be glad for all the gifts Congress, our Santa Claus, has given us this year, not to mention the tumbling gas prices that could turn the fuel blues of 2008 into the happiest melodies of 2009.
You may not have heard much about this from the industry or the mainstream boating media, but that
doesn’t mean it didn’t happen.