How is this going to stop boaters? Up close to the shore, it might. However, twelve (to 24) miles out you are in international waters and our rules do not apply.

((How far out at sea is international waters?
Sovereignty extends to the airspace above and to the seabed below the territorial sea. The U.S. territorial sea extends 12 nautical miles from the baseline.))
https://nauticalcharts.noaa.gov/data/us-maritime-limits-and-boundaries.html

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By Bob Unruh
Published December 15, 2022

Jeff Angers, president of Sportfishing Policy, reacted this week to a new plan by Joe Biden's administration that would limit the speed for boats along much of the Atlantic seaboard to 10 knots – about 11 miles per hour.

"It's stupid," he said in a Fox News report on Biden's newest "green" plan. "It's not what government is supposed to do."

The green agenda plan purportedly would address the problem of boats running into the endangered right whale.

But officials from the government admitted that there have been only five deadly whale strikes by boats between 35 to 65 feet over the last 15 years. They noted that boats over 65 feet in length already are limited to a speed restriction.

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But Angers noted that there's less than a one in a million chance of a fishing boat hitting a whale, according to numbers from the agency proposing the change, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

"Based on actual interactions between recreational boats and right whales, the proposed restrictions are unjustifiable, ineffective and unnecessary," he told Fox.

The speed limits would restrict boating from Florida to Massachusetts, and up to 100 miles off shore. (They can't, they have no jurisdiction)

"This would be the greatest regulatory overreach in American maritime law," charged Frank Hugelmeyer, president of the National Marine Manufacturers Association.

"Not only are they creating a serious safety issue, they are creating a massive negative economic impact."

The danger was explained by Chris Edmonston of the Boat Owners Association. Boats, he said, can't get on a "plane" if they are going so slow, and that is the speed at which the bow of the boat cuts efficiently through oncoming waves.

"The boats are designed to ride on top of the waves," he told Fox. "This is going to make them wallow in the waves – up and down – side to side – pitching. It’s going to be hard to maintain control. You can take waves over the side."

Trey Thompson, a pilot boat captain, told Fox there will be injuries, too.

"If we run at slow speeds, any side swell is going to make these boats roll," he said.

Glenn Hughes, of the American Sportfishing Association, said the rule "will just keep people from fishing."

What used to be a hour trip to a fishing location, he said, now will be three or four hours – each way.

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