BoatU.S. - January/February 2010

with different fish and wildlife agencies around the country regarding lapsed fishing licenses and approached them with the idea of doing the same with boat registrations,” said Law. The Recreational Boating and Fishing Foundation is a national non-profit organization created to increase public participation in recreational boating and fishing. With RBFF assistance, the pilot program used some good old-fashioned marketing techniques, sending out three different renewal notices to diverse types of boaters, and cross-referencing anglers in the process — a move that proved largely successful.

“For instance, with anglers we were having a particularly large Coho salmon run here this year, so we let them know that and tried to get them excited about it. It worked,” says Law. And revenue is the bottom line. Besides the registration dollars that OSMB receives from owners — roughly $51 per boat — each additional boat accounts for $30 in funds from the state fuel tax and another $3 per registered boat in federal funds through the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, and all that money goes back into boating in Oregon.

“The total turned out close to $50,000 in revenue for Marine Board programs,” says Law. Not surprisingly given the results, four other states are said to be looking into running a similar boat registration renewal campaign in partnership with RBFF.

— A.D.

Ocean Bills In Congress

The second session of the 111th Congress, which convenes this month, has a raft of ocean-related bills under consideration, including no less than 16 bills dealing with aspects of ocean energy, ranging from offshore oil and gas drilling to generating electricity from wave energy. BoatU.S. is monitoring these bills and other legislation that may affect recreational boating. For links to these bills: www.BoatUS.com/gov — R.L.

$PVME;GSBDUJPOBM;PXOFSTIJQ;CF;SJHIU;GPS;ZPV

"OAT;/WNERS;!SSOCIATION; OF;4HE;5NITED;3TATES

+"/;'&#;;;;;

Digital Issue

;-AGAZINE;

The digital versions of all BoatU.S. Magazines, including this one, offer extras including streaming videos, live links, additional photos, digital directories, and more. www.BoatUS.com/Magazine