Marine Automatic Identification

Airplane transponders allow air traffic controllers to “see” who is in the sky. Yesterday, in speaking before the US House of Representatives Coast Guard Subcommittee, BoatUS testified that any potential requirement for this type of technology on boats is not practical, nor would it reduce the threat of a waterborne attack. “Contrary to what Hollywood has portrayed, the average boat in this country is 16-feet. Requiring some type of transponder on recreational boats — many of whom don’t even have a battery to power it — would only be window dressing for a potential homeland security problem that will not be reduced, despite the outlay of billions of dollars,” said BoatUS Vice President of Government Affairs Margaret Podlich.

Marine Automatic Identification Systems (AIS) have long been used as a collision avoidance tool for commercial ships and provides important vessel identification, position, speed and course information to fellow mariners as well as land-based vessel traffic control systems. Since 9/11, the Coast Guard has been tasked by the Dept. of Homeland Security to develop a small-boat threat assessment and strategy to reduce the possibility of small watercraft being used by terrorists. “The challenge with AIS is that it does not provide the ability to reduce the small boat threat,” said Podlich. “For starters, the AIS unit on a small boat can simply be turned off.

And more importantly, how could the US Coast Guard monitor the millions of new vessel traffic movements? The monitoring would be overwhelming, on-the-water force response inadequate, and it would be costly to taxpayers to build and operate the system,” said Podlich. She also mentioned boaters would be forced to pick up the tab for the AIS units, which currently starts at about $600.