Spring boating season in South Florida hit a choppy patch on Thursday when Coast Guard crews shut down six illegal passenger charters in Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach counties, forcing operators to stop carrying paying customers on the spot. Officials said the boardings turned up a grab bag of safety lapses and paperwork problems serious enough to warrant immediate enforcement action.
According to WTSP, the sweep stretched from the intracoastal to Biscayne Bay and included a vessel identified as the Round, described as an 88-foot motor yacht carrying 18 passengers, whose owner had already been hit with multiple previous Captain of the Port orders. WTSP reported that crews cited six charter voyages in all and logged a total of 14 violations across the vessels they boarded.
What officers found
Boarding teams cited boats for missing or expired state registration, failing to carry a valid Certificate of Inspection or Certificate of Documentation, and for operating without properly credentialed mariners, according to WPLG Local 10. Local 10 also noted routine but serious safety shortfalls, from inadequate life jackets to missing drug-and-alcohol testing programs, issues the Coast Guard has been flagging in earlier safety advisories.
Legal penalties for operators
The U.S. Coast Guard says that violating a Captain of the Port order can bring civil penalties of up to $117,608 per day, and that willful, knowing violations can be prosecuted as a class D felony carrying as much as six years in prison plus substantial fines, according to the U.S. Coast Guard. The agency adds that owners who run illegal passenger-for-hire operations can also face separate civil fines that stack up to tens of thousands of dollars for each violation.
How to protect yourself
"The Coast Guard urges anyone paying for a trip on a vessel to verify the captain has a safety plan and a Merchant Mariner Credential," the agency said in a statement. For larger charter boats, or any vessel carrying more than six passengers, riders should also ask to see a Coast Guard-issued Certificate of Inspection, and if the operator cannot produce the right documents, passengers should not get on board, the U.S. Coast Guard added.
Other alleged violations
WTSP also reported that some boardings involved allegations of providing false statements to federal officers and included at least one citation for possession of a controlled substance. Those reports highlighted the broader safety and legal concerns behind the Coast Guard crackdown and the stepped-up patrols by local partners on South Florida waters.
Enforcement continues
Investigators said joint patrols with state and local agencies will continue through the busy spring boating season, and they urged anyone who sees suspected illegal charter activity to contact the Coast Guard Investigative Service with tips, WPLG Local 10 reported. For more information on recreational boating safety, the Coast Guard directs the public to uscgboating.org and to its regional press releases.
