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PWC Bans:
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News around town (more news on PWC bans further down this page):
2002 NJ PWC Ban News: From an article by the Associated Press: "State Officials want to widen a ban on personal watercraft"
Personal watercraft ban eyed for Forsythe refuge / The Associated Press / 12/29/01 @ 10:19 AM
TRENTON, N.J. (AP) -- "State environmental officials want to widen a ban on personal watercraft to include the sprawling Edwin B. Forsythe National Wildlife Refuge. Less than a year ago, the state created its first protected marine area for Island Beach State Park in Ocean County by putting jurisdiction of the parkland and surrounding bay waters under one plan. "What we want to do is see if we can take that same idea and work with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service to apply that in Forsythe," Lawrence Schmidt, the Department of Environmental Protection's Office of Coastal Planning told The Press of Atlantic City for Saturday's editions. A marine-protected area at Forsythe would apply to uses of motorized watercraft that are incompatible with fish and bird habitats. Kevin DesRoberts, an assistant manager with the Barnegat division of the 46,000-acre federal refuge, said it's unclear how much of the mostly salt marsh refuge would come under the marine-protected area. It's also unclear when the restriction would be formally proposed. The focus of the restriction is to protect the environmentally sensitive areas and the marine creatures that inhabit them from boat propellors and personal watecraft jets that churn up silt along the shallow bottoms. The marine-protected area is one of the strategies contained in the recent Coastal Zone Management report to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. The DEP's report also proposes creating new rules giving the Great Egg Harbor and Maurice rivers greater protection from development. The two South Jersey rivers are being targeted for such protection because they are part of the National Wild and Scenic Rivers program overseen by the National Park Service. Those rules could be proposed within two year, Schmidt said. The coastal report also includes other initiative, such as creating a set of indicators to measure whether the coastal environment is improving. State environmental officials would use the indicators to assess the coastal program's success, replacing the traditional yardsticks of keeping track of how permit applications are reviewed or how many violation notices are issued."
The articles below were scanned from a March issue of the Times Beacon Newspaper, serving southern NJ, regarding Bans on Personal Watercraft in NJ in 2001:
After reading the articles above (Scan 1-3), I contacted the AWA, seeking support to defend PWC from such bans and negative press. The AWA took immediate action and a Letter to the Editor appeared in the March 22-23, 2001 edition of the Newspaper (link below). I then followed-up with my own letter, addressing Scan 3 above (the ignorant Jetskiier cartoon). My letter appear in the March 28-29 edition of the newspaper (link below).
Personal watercraft recreation has come under an increasing amount of scrutiny by numerous anti-PWC organizations (e.g., The Bluewater Network). Therefore, we must work together and intelligently question, and participate in, the legislation affecting our sport. Write your local government official (congressman/woman, senator, etc.) and let them know how you feel about discriminatory legislation.
Find your representatives and write!
Some PWC Ban Related Info, Found on the Web
- Just a few examples of the good, the bad and the ugly that you'll find online
A while back, H.R. 3141, which included discriminatory personal watercraft legislation. After posting information about H.R. 3141 in the "rec.sports.jetski" newsgroup I received the following feedback (below, in white). I've copied the message here to reinforce your participation in PWC legislative issues that impact us all.
Thanks to Dave for posting this! If enough of you write to your Representatives and Senators I believe we can defeat H.R. 3141 or modify it into something that everyone interested in boating safety could agree with.
Howard Park
Consultant/Public Affairs
Bombardier Recreation ProductsClick here to read H.R. 3141 (It was copied from U.S. Congress on the Internet).
"To encourage the safe and responsible use of personal watercraft, and for other purposes"
