NMCA opposes mandatory PFD use

swadminSeptember 24, 2004

ALEXANDRIA, Va. – The National Marine Charter Association’s Board of Directors recently approved a policy statement opposing the mandatory use of personal floatation devices, the NMCA said in a release yesterday.

The NMCA said its policy on the mandatory use of PFDs is as follows:

“The National Marine Charter Association opposes the mandatory use of Personal Floatation Devices (PFDs) for operators and passengers in the marine charter and small passenger vessel industry.

Passengers on charter vessels have the distinct safety advantage of professional guidance from trained, licensed, and experienced operators and crew. Operators of passenger vessels are licensed by the U.S. Coast Guard and have the training and experience to know when circumstances warrant passengers donning PFDs. The safety briefings Captains give to passengers before being underway show where PFDs are kept and how they should be worn. A government intrusion on and regulation of this important business-customer relationship is unwarranted and unneeded, and has not been proven beneficial by any studies or empirical evidence.”