Urgent Waterway Alert: Please Take Action

[Rednucleus]

@S1Pitts I took the survey lliving in WA - there was a place to select something like "out of state" when they asked for an adddress

[ProStah_Skiah]

Update on the goings-on in Maine with regard to wake surfing regulations:

Last summer, a bill (LD693) was introduced that would prohibit "creating an enhanced wake with a boat that is equipped with wake-enhancing equipment within 500 feet of the shoreline or in waters less than 20 feet deep".

The bill failed, however the Legislature directed IFW to form a stakeholder group and review completed studies relating to wake boats and their effects on shoreline property and the environment. Here is a link to the report back which was issued in January 2024.

The legislature acted to implement recommendations in this report in bill LD 2284, which was enacted this week (April 2024).

They didn't waste any time!

Cliff notes:

It defines "wakesurfing activity" as an activity that involves using a surfboard, wakeboard or similar device while being propelled by a motorboat's wake or while on or in a motorboat's wake directly behind that motorboat.

It requires that information related to boater safety and education courses be provided at the time of purchase of a motorboat from a dealer in the State.

It prohibits a person from operating a motorboat in less than 15 feet of water or within 300 feet of the shoreline when the motorboat is engaged in a wakesurfing activity.

It directs the Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife to develop an outreach program to provide boater safety and education to persons engaged in wakesurfing activities and to submit a report focused on wake boats and wakesurfing activities in the State to the joint standing committee of the Legislature having jurisdiction over inland fisheries and wildlife matters no later than February 1, 2027. The committee is authorized to report out a bill based on this report to the 133rd Legislature in 2027.