For Stockton-area boaters who haven’t been paying attention to California laws, the start of the new year may come as a bit of a shock.
The Boating Safety Unit of the San Joaquin County Sheriff’s Office will be enforcing a state law that requires all vessel operators to have a California Boater Card in their possession, officials say.
California is fourth in the nation when it comes to boat registrations, with 672,103 as of 2023, according to the BoatUS Foundation.
The state law requiring a boater ID card has been phasing in since 2018 based on a boat operator’s age, but starting Jan. 1, every skipper must have one. Those who don’t can be fined up to $100 for the first offense, $250 for the second and $500 for the third or more.
The sheriff’s unit, which patrols Delta rivers and sloughs around San Joaquin County, has been informing boaters about the card and has the option to write a citation for noncompliance, sheriff’s spokesperson Heather Brent said. A sergeant and four to six deputies work the patrol, with staff added during warmer months when more boaters take to the water.
Over the past several years, “any person they come in contact with, they will educate” about it, Brent said.
The Stockton Police Department is in the “early stages” of forming its own marine unit, and protocols are still being worked out, Officer Omer Edhah said.
The card costs $10 and is good for a lifetime, according to the the California Division of Boating and Waterways, which administers the program. The catch is that boaters are required to take a comprehensive online or in-person safety course, including tests on the material.
There are a few — but not many — exemptions from having to obtain the card. They include people renting boats; those operating a vessel while under direct supervision of an adult who has the card; out-of-state residents or foreigners boating in California for less than 60 or 90 days, respectively; and those who have a commercial fishing or marine operator license.
More than a dozen public and private boating operations offer the course, with costs running from about $60 on the high side to a free course offered though the BoatUS Foundation. The class takes a minimum of three hours.
Some boat owners are phoning BoatUS about the test, said Lynne O’Hearn, the foundation’s program manager. The uptick began in October as many became aware of the deadline. But some of the questions — such as “Why do I have to do this?”— should be directed to state officials, O’Hearn said.