In Massachusetts, anyone 16 and older can pilot a boat without completing a safety course – The Boston Globe

Boating safety has received renewed attention this summer after a 11-year-old from Lexington died in an accident at a Boy Scout camp in New Hampshire and a teenager was killed on Cape Cod when a boat carrying six people slammed into a jetty at night. Prosecutors have opened a criminal investigation into the Cape Cod crash.

The deaths have lent new urgency to a bill in the Legislature that would require boaters 12 or older to have a safety certificate or be with a certified adult in an effort to reduce accidents.

“It’s really so common that there are younger folks who are on the boat and they may be distracted [while] having a good time, and incidents occur,” said Senator Susan Moran, who is sponsoring the bill. “We’re just trying to be sure that we keep as many people safe through the great recreation experience of boating.”

As currently written, the bill would take effect next year and initially apply only to boaters born in 1993 or later. The law would then expand in 2025 to people born in 1985 or later. The law would not apply to out-of-state visitors renting a boat in Massachusetts, merchant marines, commercial fishermen, or active armed forces members who are authorized to operate a boat.

During the first year of the pandemic in 2020, boat sales surged as people looked to spend more time outdoors. With the rise in boaters came a 26 percent increase in accidents nationally, from 4,168 in 2019 to 5,265 in 2020, according to data from the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard defines accidents as incidents in which a person dies, disappears, or is injured, or when damage to the vessel or other property exceeds $2,000.

Accidents have declined sharply since then, falling to 4,040 in 2022. There were 636 boating fatalities nationwide last year, compared to 658 deaths in 2021 and 767 in 2020. Alcohol continued to be the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, accounting for 88 deaths, followed by “operator inexperience” with 69 deaths.

In Massachusetts, accidents have held steady, with 75 in 2020, four fewer than in 2019. There were seven boating deaths in 2020 compared to four in 2019. The numbers fell slightly the next two years, with 68 accidents, five of them fatal, in 2022.

In July, Sadie Mauro, 17, a rising senior at Dover-Sherborn Regional High School, was among six people on a boat that struck a jetty at the entrance to Sesuit Harbor in Dennis. Mauro was killed in the crash and a teenage boy suffered a head laceration.

Cape and Islands District Attorney Robert J. Galibois opened an investigation into the crash but authorities have not identified who was operating the boat or announced any charges. A spokesperson for the district attorney’s office declined to release further information, citing the ongoing investigation.

Lieutenant John Girvalakis of the state Environmental Police said the only people who are required to take a safety course are 16- and 17-year-olds who want to operate a “personal watercraft,” such as a jet ski. Anyone younger is prohibited from driving one.

The Environmental Police offers a public boating safety course approved by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators. The course can be taken online for a fee or in a traditional classroom setting for free.

Girvalakis said the course lasts about 12 hours and can be broken up into several sessions. The course teaches boaters how to navigate the water safely and legally and how to respond in dangerous situations, such as becoming stranded with a broken motor or if a vessel begins to take on water.

Girvalakis said experienced boaters are often surprised by what they learn in the course.

“It’s amazing to see people’s faces … they’re shocked to find out things that they’ve been doing that are completely wrong,” Girvalakis said. “I think we would have a far safer boating public in Massachusetts if we had mandatory education.”

Girvalakis said many people wrongly assume operating a motorboat is easier than driving a car because of the open space on the water and suggested the state approach boating safety more seriously.

“For kids to get driver’s licenses, they have to take driver’s ed. To get a motorcycle license, they have to take a motorcycle safety course,” Girvalakis said. “Yet we grant people the ability to operate vessels up to 65 feet long unrestricted, vessels that weigh tons and tons and can go upwards of 60 miles per hour and have no brakes.”

In New Hampshire, one must be at least 16 and hold a boating education certificate to operate a motorboat with more than 25 horsepower, according to the state’s tourism website. Certification from a NABSLA-approved course in another state is also accepted.

Vermont law requires all motorboat and personal watercraft operators born after Jan. 1, 1974, to carry a boater education card. The minimum age to take the course is 12.

Rhode Island requires boaters to be certified if they were born in 1986 or later, and everyone, regardless of age, must be certified to operate a personal watercraft, according to the state Department of Environmental Management. Visitors from other states must meet the requirements of their home state to drive a boat in Rhode Island.

Like Massachusetts, Maine currently has no requirement for boating education, except for personal watercraft operators who are 16 or 17. But under a new law that takes effect in January, boaters 12 and older must pass a safety course to operate a motorboat with more than 25 horsepower. The law will apply to boaters born in 1999 or later, according to Mark Latti, communications director for the state’s Department of Inland Fisheries and Wildlife.

The Massachusetts bill is called the David Hanson Act, named after a 19-year-old emergency medical technician and call firefighter from Kingston who drowned off Plymouth Harbor in 2010 after the 15-foot boat he was in sank. The boat was owned by Hanson’s friend, who was clinging to a buoy when Coast Guard crews arrived.

A version of the bill is also in the House. State Representative Kathleen LaNatra, the bill’s sponsor, said it was originally filed by her predecessor, Thomas Calter, and she has continued his effort to see it become law.

“I’m optimistic it may pass and am hopeful this is the session,” LaNatra said by email. “We have seen increased accidents on our waterways that could have been prevented with a little bit of boater education.”

The Massachusetts Marine Trades Association, a nonprofit that represents the boating industry, has been working with LaNatra’s office for several years on the bill, said executive director Randall Lyons.

“The more comfortable somebody is on a boat, the better off it is for everybody involved,” he said. “That certainly is the goal of this bill and the goal of our our association in trying to come up with ways to help the state bring it to fruition.”

Nick Stoico can be reached at nick.stoico@globe.com. Follow him @NickStoico.