Every year, I look forward to the American Boating Congress, the advocacy event the National Marine Manufacturers Association organizes on the Washington, D.C., waterfront in early May. It’s a great opportunity to reconnect with industry members and leaders after seeing most of them at the Miami International Boat Show three months prior.
Inevitably, since I live only 30 miles from the event venue, most everyone I run into says: “It must be so nice not to have to fly here and stay in a hotel.” I usually smile and nod. Inside my head, I am screaming: Do you have any idea what D.C. traffic is like? Those 30 miles some days can take 40 minutes; other days, it’s two hours.
ABC was especially interesting, and I learned more than I expected from the panel discussions and speakers. There was a lot of talk about important advocacy issues that we’ll be covering in our Trade Only Today e-newsletter and Soundings Trade Only magazine over the next year.
Public water access was probably the most important issue discussed during the three-day gathering. Top of mind was the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund, which supplies grants to such organizations as the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and others that manage waterfront infrastructure. The trust fund is set to expire Sept. 30.
The Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund is “one of those programs where the taxpayer dollars that are going into the trust fund go back to exactly what it’s meant to support,” NMMA interim vice president of public policy and government relations Clay Crabtree said during a panel discussion. “So whether it’s a Republican or a Democrat you’re talking to, it’s easy to argue that this is a very good use of taxpayer dollars, because the money is going exactly where it should go: into water access and facilities.”
There also was a lot of talk about the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s vessel speed rule, which was put forward to protect North Atlantic right whales. NMMA president and CEO Frank Hugelmeyer, along with National Fish and Wildlife Foundation chief conservation officer Holly Bamford, applauded the industry’s Whale and Vessel Safety task force, which is finding ways to use technology to detect and avoid whales instead of focusing on slower boat speeds.
“I am very excited about the technology that’s being tested,” Bamford said. “There’s this thermal detection, so that day or night, if a whale breaches the surface, you can detect it. And then artificial intelligence can use large language models to learn and identify specific whale species. The collaboration with our agency and WAVS has been so satisfying and shows that when we work together, we can implement real solutions.”
Tori Smith, senior vice president at Forbes Tate Partners, moderated a panel on the state of tariffs and their effect on manufacturers. Regarding material inputs like steel and aluminum, panelists such as Richard Stern, vice president of the Plymouth Institute for Free Enterprise, Advancing American Freedom, noted that a majority of marine companies are able to source steel from within the United States, while many rely on aluminum from outside the country. The latter is subject to stiff, ever-changing tariffs.
A separate panel discussed onerous regulations affecting industry participants. The moderator was Jeff Wasil, NMMA vice president of environmental compliance and marine technology. Two government agendas are particularly shocking in potential problems they could cause for our industry.
Styrene, a major component in polyester and vinylester resins, has come under scrutiny through the Environmental Protection Agency’s Toxic Substances Control Act. John Schweitzer, senior vice president, EH&S and sustainability, American Composites Manufacturers Association, updated boatbuilders on potential regulatory oversight within their facilities.
A builder who asked not to be named told Trade Only Today after the discussion: “Any attempt to remove styrene from boatbuilding would put us out of business. And it wouldn’t just be us. It would be virtually the entire industry.”
Perhaps most concerning are new Minnesota regulations regarding PFAS, so-called forever chemicals. The state recently passed regulations that would require labeling of any products that use them. Most boats and their components them contain hundreds of these chemicals. “This will put certain businesses in an almost impossible situation of identifying these components in their products, making sure they’re labeled properly and all the while facing potential liability suits for not getting it right,” said Lynn Bergeson, managing partner, Bergeson and Campbell. “It’s enough to make your head explode.”
As I drove home that evening — after a dinner with a couple who own a major boatbuilding operation, and the sales and marketing head of a well-known components and accessories manufacturer — it made me realize that as divided as our country is right now, not one argument erupted during ABC. In fact, I overheard attendees regularly speak about hot-button issues without the emoji-laden, exclamatory responses you see too frequently on social media and news sites.
The experience reminded me how well we work together in this industry to get things done as a team. And with that, I sailed right along I-295 without so much as a brake light as I made my way home.
