CG Tries to Assess Security Threat

Most of the 29,988 boats registered in Monroe County can head to sea without a federally required tracking device on board.

Officials of a national boat-owners association testified to Congress in December that it should stay way.

"Homeland security remains a huge issue for the U.S. Coast Guard," Margaret Podlich, vice president of government affairs for the Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatU.S.).

"Every now and then, somebody says 'Holy cow, we've got a lot small boats out there. What should be do about them?'," Podlich told the Keynoter.

However, the answer, Podlich said, should not be to require recreational boaters to install a transponder that transmits the vessel's identity and location.

Some commercial boats already must be equipped with an Automatic Information System (AIS) device that regularly beams the vessel location to Coast Guard monitoring stations.

Key West is one of about 60 ports in the nation with an AIS monitoring system in place for the commercial ships and large boats required to have the electronic gear.

Recreational boats are not required to carry an AIS. Coast Guard officials told Congress that will not change in the immediate future.

"But the rumblings haven't gone away," Podlich said. "The topic keeps coming back.

BoatU.S. says the Coast Guard has been charged with developing "a small-boat threat assessment and strategy to reduce the possibility of small watercraft being used by terrorists."

"We see the Coast Guard making some type of AIS a requirement on smaller and smaller commercial boats," Podlich said. "It's getting a little closer to recreational boats."

The least expensive AIS transponders now cost about $600.

"It's probably not something that the normal individual could put on his boat by himself," said Bradley Davis, owner of Keys Marine Electronics in Tavernier.

"They'd have to hire somebody to do the installation," Davis said. "It has to tie into the VHF radio and the [global positioning system], and all the output protocols are different."

In 2007, many commercial fishing boats in Florida were required to install vessel monitoring systems so observers could ensure the boats did not enter offshore waters closed to fishing. The federal government agreed to reimburse the vessel owners about $3,000 to cover the purchase and installation, but owners are required to pay regular service fees.

That type of system would be impractical for America's 11 million privately owned recreational boats, Podlich said.

"BoatU.S. believes that requiring that AIS transponders be installed and operational on recreational vessels would not produce any significant benefit for maritime security," she told the Congressional committee. "It would come at a substantial cost to the taxpayer, and to the marine industry as a whole."