Policy Alert Archives   Update on the Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 5/20/2010   Information on Gulf of Mexico Oil Spill 5/3/2010   Tell the White House That the New National Policy for the Ocean, Coasts and Great lakes Must Safeguard Recreational Fishing 3/9/2010   New National Policy May Close Marine and Fresh Waters to Recreational Fishing 2/7/2010   Washington State Anglers Face a Ban on Lead Fishing Tackle 12/9/2009   Washington State Anglers Face a Ban on Lead Fishing Tackle 11/17/2009   New National Oceans and Great Lakes Policy Proposal Ignores $125 Billion Recreational Fishing's Economic Impact 10/5/2009   Contact Florida Governor Charlie Crist and Legislators Demanding They Prevent the National Park Service From Taking Away Your Right to Fish in Biscayne National Park! 9/25/2009   Send a letter to the National Park Service to Protect Your Right to Fish in Biscayne Bay 9/25/2009   Support HR 2565: The National Fish Habitat Conservation Act 4/27/2009   California Angler Access Decision Coming 4/27/2009   The Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008 Update 4/6/2009   The Consumer Product Safety Act of 2008 2/5/2009   Recreational Fishing in the Pacific Ocean is in Peril 10/15/2008   West Coast Salmon Disaster Relief Funds Released 9/18/2008   Support Marine Protected Area Proposal 2XA 4/9/2008   Support S.2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008 4/7/2008   ASA Opposes U.S. Bureau of Customs and Border Protection Proposed Rule Regarding "First Sale" 4/4/2008   ASA's Position on Proposed Recreational Fishing Restrictions for Gag Grouper in the gulf of Mexico 3/17/2008   ASA's Position on NOAA's Sanctuaries Program's Islands in the Stream Gulf of Mexico Proposal 2/6/2008   Support Passage of the Magnuson-Stevens Act 8/28/2006   Restoration of the Klamath River Salmon Populations 8/22/2006   Excise Tax—Where Are We Now? 5/24/2006   EEZ Striped Bass Fishing 5/19/2006   Support Health Insurance Bill 5/11/2006   Learn More

April 7, 2008

American Sportfishing Association Policy Alert – Clean Boating Act
Support S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008

For more information, contact Gordon Robertson, vice president and Government Affairs lead, 703.519.9691, x237, or Patty Doerr, Ocean Resource Policy director, x244.

How You Can Help
Please send letters to your Members of Congress urging them to support and cosponsor the Act. You can also visit www.boatblue.org to learn more about the issue. This is the most significant threat facing the boating industry today, and we need your help to solve it. Please take five minutes to tell Congress to support S. 2766. For more detailed information; read the American Sportfishing Association’s (ASA) position on the Clean Boating Act of 2008.

The Situation
Unless Congress acts soon, all 18 million recreational boat owners in the United States will be required to obtain a federal or state permit in order to operate their boat. This means yearly fees, bureaucratic red tape, confusing and potentially state-by-state regulations, citizen suits and $32,000 per day in penalties for non-compliance. These permits would apply to deck run-off, bilge water, engine cooling water and any other water-based, operational discharge from a recreational boat. The Environmental Protection Agency, due to a sweeping court order, is already writing this unprecedented new regulation on boaters.

Senators Barbara Boxer (D-CA) and Bill Nelson (D-FL) have introduced S. 2766, the Clean Boating Act of 2008. The Clean Boating Act would fully and permanently restore a 35-year permit exemption for recreational boat incidental discharges, such as weather deck run-off and engine coolant water, and works to protect the health of the nation's waterways by pursuing whether or not reasonable and practicable best management practices need to be put into place for some incidental discharges. This important bill preserves recreational boating and the boating industry, taking a balanced approached that recognizes that pleasure boat discharges are completely different from land-based industrial facilities and commercial ships.

There is an inherent connection between fishing and boating – over half of those who purchase boats do so for the purpose of fishing. Therefore, ASA is working very closely with its partners in the boating industry to expedite passage of the Clean Boating Act of 2008.