When more regulation is better

[laklak]

OK here's something that needs a shitload more regulation, and this coming from a libertarian. Fucking boaters. Any asshole with the money can buy a 60 foot, 4000hp sportfish and go roaring around the waterways, throwing massive wakes, ignoring any and all maritime regulations, rules of the road, and safety regulations, with no, and I mean NO, fucking education, experience, or licensing, and nobody stops them. This is because the USCG is too fucking busy boarding every trawler they see, asking about weapons (yeah, got 'em), ammo (yeah, got that), drugs (yeah, but you won't find them), and we're puttering along at 7 knots, obeying all laws and fully in compliance with EVERY goddamn cockamamie reg. We either need to license all boaters and enforce the goddamn law, or we need to legalize Stand Your Motherfucking Ground on the water. I'm perfectly willing to shoot these asshole shitgibbon rich cocksucking weekend warriors, in fact, it would release a fuckton of stress to put a fucking 30 06 through their fucking forehead. Better still, a 5 inch below the waterline. Or torpedoes. Yeah, a torpedo would do the trick.

[Tero]

In Finland those new boat owners typically destroy their boat the first summer "drunk driving" it. I could not find much video from there, but most are speed boats capsized, run onto pier or run aground. Few are actual crashed. Here is a general compilation of fools

[Sean Hayden]

A few die or kill someone else every summer here too.

[Scot Dutchy]

Every thing over 10 metres needs a Masters licence here. That is not easy. A normal driving licence is child's play in comparison.

[laklak]

Here it's either none at all, or U.S. Coast Guard licensing, which is nearly impossible for anyone other than a professional sailor. They're designed for commercial operators, and require at least a year of hands-on experience as both a crew member and in command of the vessel. Your average recreational boater will never qualify, I certainly wouldn't. What we need is a recreational boater's license, maybe different classes based either on tonnage or length. You should know all the regs, rules of the road, safety procedures, navigation, etc. Make 'em learn to use a sextant, that will weed out a hell of a lot of them. Plus a practical test in a boat of the proper size - docking, getting underway, anchoring, all of it. Most states require you take a "boater safety" course if you're under a certain age (we old farts are exempt), but it's a fucking joke. Keep the current requirements for anyone engaged in a commercial enterprise or carrying passengers, but come up with a rational licensing scheme for the rest of us - ALL of us, particularly the moronic assholes on their jet skis and bass boats. I tell ya, it's taking your life in your fucking hands to go out on the water, but at least we're big enough at 13 meters that other boats generally steer clear. I can't wait to get out of West Florida and up to the relatively unpopulated Panhandle.

[pErvinalia]

NANNY STATE!! Licensing is THEFT!1

[laklak]

No, it's OPPRESSION! Taxes are theft.

[pErvinalia]

Oh yeah.

[Svartalf]

No, it's OPPRESSION! Taxes are theft.

But when if finances roads and hospitals and schools it's robbin' hood theft?

[pErvinalia]

THEFT IS THEFT!!!!!!!!!

[Animavore]

The main thing fished off the East coast of Ireland these days are prawns. You go to Howth harbour and all the fish mongers still display that the fish are local. They're not. They are imported.

We have allowed our coasts to be over fished. We need total bans put in pkace in some areas for about 3 years to help bring back stocks. After that we need to fish in a sustainable manner, like Norway. We need to ban dredging (in Norway they snorkel for shellfish).

Regulations in the fishing industry protect jobs and increase yield even if it seems counter intuitive to fish less to gain more. Lack of regulations destroy coasts, reefs, and reduce diversity and you're left, like you are in Dublin, scraping for bottom-feeding sea-insects.

[pErvinalia]

No, this must be wrong. It's in the fishermen's interest to harvest their resource sustainably. They know better than those pesky scientists slash greenies. No primary producer has ever destroyed their resource. Apart from most of them. But you know...

[Animavore]

Interestingly what they've done in Norway has sold it to the fishermen that it is in their interest to fish sustainably and they help police the borders, report cheaters, and provide scientific data.

That said, the Scandinavians are probably the most reasonable people I've ever met.

[Animavore]

Fuck!

[pErvinalia]

Interestingly what they've done in Norway has sold it to the fishermen that it is in their interest to fish sustainably and they help police the borders, report cheaters, and provide scientific data.

That said, the Scandinavians are probably the most reasonable people I've ever met.

Yep. And they are very well educated, which means they respect knowledge and science.