Why Certification?
Over the past six months, I have been listening to the national marine organizations speak about how important it is to get more non-boating Americans to participate in marine-based recreational activities, so we can grow our boating-based industry.
I read how they are in need of more funding to lobby federal, state and local governments, so we have less intrusion and restriction from these governmental bodies.
Both of these are excellent and worthwhile endeavors.
Having more folks enjoying boating is good for us all. Less government regulation and oversight, and less government restriction to allow access to the wonders that water activities bring to families are tremendous.
These two issues deserve our support and our funding. There are other issues being discussed right now that don’t, however.
First, let’s establish that our industry is not like, or related to, the auto industry, and because of that, it should not be modeled after it. Automobiles are mass-produced and are now a requirement of our daily lives in America. They are needed to supply us with transportation in all of our daily comings and goings.
Boating, on the other hand, is a recreational activity. It is not a sport. We must come to understand that we are competing for an individual’s or a family’s leisure time. Period. Nothing more. Understanding and accepting this truth is the first step to growth.
I have read and encourage everyone interested in the growth of this recreational industry to read the research reports commissioned by the National Marine Manufacturers Association and paid for by its members, entitled “Quantitative Barriers Research” and “Prospective Boat Owners.” [For links to the studies, visit the marketing page of the Grow Boating site.]
These reports are in-depth studies that identify and confirm the important barriers that consumers face when purchasing a boat as well as geo-demographically identifying first-time boat purchasers and where they live.
Both of these reports back-up and verify the major resistance to boating. No surprise here: “the perceived initial cost of purchasing” and “the cost for vs. times-used equation” are the main reasons people gave for resisting or not getting into boating at this time.
Not once in either report is it mentioned that we, as an industry, are perceived as providing a low-quality product, service, or recreational activity or experience. It is just the opposite. People are interested, but they do not believe they have the disposable money to participate. Nowhere does the survey state or imply that we
need to certify or regulate our products or our dealerships. Nowhere is it implied that if we do certify our products and our dealerships, we will see even the modest 3-to-5-percent increase that is the target established by this initiative. It is about money.
Why then are the marine industry’s national organizations focusing in on, mandating or pushing boat builders, suppliers and dealers into costly, restrictive, intrusive and unfounded boat and dealer certification standards? No other industry competing for leisure time has, or is implementing, similar costly regulations and/or restrictive certification to its members. Not the RV industry, motorcycle industry, ATV industry, golf or fishing industries, etc. This is unnecessary regulation and, if left to stand, smacks of restriction of free trade, which our government outlawed decades ago.
The free market will always reward those who provide the desired products with the desired quality at the desired prices, and punish those who do not. You cannot regulate or impose on free markets, or they would no longer be free. All over the world we fight for free markets to be put in place. We boat builders and boat dealers do not want or need certification, we want orders and a free unrestricted market.
By Carl Morahan President/Owner Fiesta Marine Products, Inc.
