IMHO, this is and should be a difficult choice.



On the one hand:



I'm always leery of encouraging our wonderful bureaucracy to get its mitts into another area where petty bean counters can clog up the works with forms and fees. What starts out as a well-intentioned (if a tad paternalistic) initiative to protect people from.... each other becomes a mind-numbing grind of fees, whining for more funding, enforcement of ridiculous regulations by control-freaks with badges, etc.



I've read enough "you wouldn't believe the BS I jsut went through" stories on this forum arising just from existing levels of regulation and enforcement.



On the other hand:



The problem is real, and undoubtedly got somebody injured or killed somewhere this summer.



Oddly, though it's a far cry from the current debate on terrorism, the same issues are at stake, "Would you surrender some of your freedom for protection from someone dangerous?" Clearly, we should be prepared to surrender far fewer freedoms and submit to far fewer intrusions in the name of beer-boobs than in the name of international terrorism.



More importantly than the severity of any punitive measures, IMHO, is the percieved likelihood of being caught and punished. Any parent or pet owner can tell you that if your subject thinks they can get away with it "Just this once" or god forbid "some or most of the time" they will be undiscouraged by the attempt at regulation.



But who wants our inland and near-shore waterways crawling with gendarmerie, madly scribbling boat id's in their little pads?



I'm attempting to propose a solution which bends the forces in conflict here into a direction so that they opppose each other in a productive way:



How about legislation of some kind empowering boaters to report each other to a "Petty Adjudication", at the expense of either the plaintif or the defendant, whomever loses? Instead of licensing everybody, make their right to boat no less accessible initially, but revokable or penalizable for proven bad conduct. Thus, presumed innocent, but "on notice" that irresponsibility will result in real loss of property or privilege.



While this is impractical right now for most cat sailors, consider the number of video cameras in the general population, particularly in the demographic segment which can afford yachts. Let those guys start taping and reporting each other, and thus creating a perception of real risk of likely penalties for stupidity. See how fast Toshiba et. al. come up with a comparitively cheap waterproof camcorder (or case) having only 10 mins of memory, marketed to boaters.



With the proper enabling legislation, crafted to keep this in the civil sector, (Government voluntarily foregoing a chance to grow into another area? Hah!!) lawyers could apply for the certification to be an approved "Petty Adjudicator" to which a plaintiff could go to seek redress for an alleged infraction, costs borne by the loser, penalties assesed according to legislated standards by an attorney whose fees are likewise stipulated.