Does it seem as though there are more boats around lately? Aside from the annual springtime seasonal influx of snook and tarpon fishermen, does it just seem as if there are more and more folks sharing the waters with us? As the number of people populating our bit of paradise continues to grow it's only logical to assume that the number of boats on our waters will also grow, but what are the numbers?

There are just under 20,000 boats registered in Charlotte County. Those 20,000 boats include vessels of all shapes and sizes ranging from canoes (yes, canoes must be registered if they are powered in any way, including electric motors) to the 126-foot yacht "Blacksheep" moored at Fishermen's Village in Punta Gorda. That 20,000-boat figure sounds like a big number of boats to share Charlotte Harbor, but that's not the end of the story. Not all the Florida boats in Charlotte County are registered in there since there's no legal requirement to register a boat in the county of residence of the owner of the vessel. For example, some Englewood boat owners might opt to register their boats in Sarasota County if they regularly travel nearer to a Sarasota County tag office than to a Charlotte County tag office. This means that county-by-county comparisons of numbers of boat registrations are of limited usefulness.

So how many boats are on Charlotte Harbor that aren't registered in Charlotte County? No one knows. Lee County surrounds about half of Charlotte Harbor and Lee County registers even more boats than Charlotte County so there are probably something like 50,000 boats docked, parked or stored within a few miles of Charlotte Harbor waters. How many boats are registered in the entire state? Something over 900,000. Does that mean that there could be 900,000 boats that visit Charlotte Harbor? No, in theory there could be a lot more since there are many boats on Florida waters carrying registrations from other states.

Trailered fishing boats from other states visit our area frequently, and there is a large influx of seasonal "snowbird" boats that cruise to Florida for the winter each year. Since there's no one sitting on the interstate highway at the state line counting trailer boats as they enter the state and since there's also no one sitting on the Intracoastal Waterway counting boats cruising into state waters, there are no hard numbers as to how many visiting boats make a temporary stop in Florida. I have heard estimates that the winter influx of seasonal boats might be around 250,000, but that can only be a rough guess. By the way, boats carrying valid registrations from other states are allowed to use Florida waters, though there is a seldom-enforced rule that if a boat stays in Florida waters for more than 90 days then the boat must be registered in Florida. This difficult-to-enforce law is basically ignored by the seasonal boats, most of which are in Florida waters for more than 90 days each winter.

So how many boats are there in the entire country? I've gleaned the following statistics from the spring edition of a publication titled "Boating Industry," a trade magazine. All the statistics are from the year 2002. There are about 12.8 million boats registered in the United States, including all 50 states and the District of Columbia. Surprisingly, Florida ranks third in total number of boats registered behind Michigan and California. Florida does rank first nationally in dollars spent on boating with just over $1.5 billion dollars (with a "B") spent in our state on boating last year. By the way, while Michigan ranks first in number of registered boats they drop to fourth place in dollars spent on boating with about $625 million dollars, less than half of Florida's figure. Nationally it's estimated that approximately 69,000,000 people participated in boating last year with a total expenditure of around $29 billion dollars. Big numbers.

Minnesota actually ranks first in the number of boats per capita. In Minnesota there are about 6.08 people per registered boat. In this category Florida actually scores a lackluster middle-of-the-pack ranking of about 18.51 people per boat. Care to make a bet on which of the 50 states ranks last in this category? Few bettors would be likely to guess that Hawaii brings up the rear at 89.55 people per boat. Hope they don't all have to evacuate by water someday.

The total number of boats in Charlotte Country is creeping upward. In 2002 there were about two percent more boats registered nationwide than had been the case in 2001. A look at sales statistics for 2002 provides some interesting facts. The number of outboard-powered boats sold in 2002 was actually down about two percent from the previous year, but the number of outboard motors sold was up by about one percent, probably reflecting a growing trend toward re-powering older boats with new outboards, particularly now that the new four-stroke engines are gaining popularity. The number of large inboard boats sold in 2002 took a hit with about 10 percent fewer units sold than in 2001, though the dollar figure was only off about 5.2 percent, probably reflecting a move toward the use of diesel engines which are more expensive than gasoline powered engines.

The sales of personal watercraft (jet skis, etc.) were down about two percent last year, which actually is good news for an industry that had seen plummeting sales every year since 1995. How bad has the decline in sales been? In 1995 approximately 200,000 personal watercraft were sold, in 2002 the number had dropped to just over 79,000, only about 40 percent of the 1995 total.

One of the most surprising statistics I found involved sailboats. Compared to the rest of the marine industry which overall produced sales that were flat or slightly down from the previous year, sailboats stood out with an incredible 23.9 percent increase in the number of boats sold in 2002 against 2001 and an even more impressive 27.2 percent increase in dollar sales, so not only was there a huge jump in the number of sailboats sold, they were also worth more money. This is all the more astounding to me given the recent state of the economy. At something over $875,000,000 in sales in 2002 sailboats may represent one of the highlights of the entire national economic picture.

The huge increase in sailboat sales may very well reflect "baby boomers" moving into the retirement years. For most sailboats are viewed as large, lifetime purchases. They cost, and last, as long as most homes. Indeed they are often used as homes by the large number of live-aboard residents that you find at many Florida marinas.

Back to the original question, are there more boats on Charlotte Harbor waters? Sure there are. The popularity of boating nationwide continues to increase, the renown of this area for fishing and boating continues to grow, and our population continues to build so it's inevitable that more and more people will be sharing our chunk of the sea. But you knew that already.

Let's Go Fishing!

Captain Allen owns and operates the King Fisher Fleet of sightseeing tour boats, deep sea fishing charter boats and back bay guide boats located at Fishermen's Village Marina in Punta Gorda and can be reached by phone at 639-0969 or by email at captain@kingfisherfleet.com for boating or fishing information or with questions you want to see answered in Waterline.

Ask The Captain Questions:

1. I heard about some sort of new federal fishing license for recreational anglers. What's the scoop?

You heard correctly. Effective March 1, 2003 there is a new Federal Recreational License required to retain Atlantic Highly Migratory Fish. For the purposes of this particular license, the Gulf of Mexico is considered part of the Atlantic Ocean so the license does apply to anglers fishing federal waters more than nine nautical miles offshore from Southwest Florida. Highly migratory fish are defined as marlin, sailfish, swordfish, all sharks and most tunas, but not blackfin tuna, the tuna most likely to be landed by local anglers. The upshot is that for most Southwest Florida anglers the only time this new permit will be required is if they wish to land sharks caught in federal waters. Those few Southwest Florida anglers who do travel far enough offshore to land tunas and billfish will also want to get the new permit. This permit costs $22.00 and will expire on March 1, 2004. Permits can be ordered on the Internet by visiting www.nmfspermits.com, or by calling toll free 1-888-872-8862.

2. I read in Waterline about people catching snook, sometimes a hundred per day. What gives? I thought the season was closed and there was a daily limit.

Anglers do target snook during the closed season. In fact, June produces some of the best snook fishing of the year. It is a time when anglers can often catch 100 snook per day and certainly produces the biggest linesiders of the year. But the season is closed and that makes this a 100 percent catch and release fishery. Wildlife officers know that anglers practice catch and release fishing at this time of the year so it is important to know what is legal and what is not. Most law enforcement officers consider the fish to be harvested if it is transported from one place to another. That means you can not bring the fish into your boat than motor to the beach to weigh or photograph your catch. You can photograph your catch briefly at boatside then release it promptly. And by the way, new studies show that snook can be injured by a hand or a Boca Grip that lifts the fish up by the mouth. It's hard for old habits to die and this method of handling large fish prior to release is the predominant one used by bass and tarpon anglers as well as snook anglers. Based on that new evidence use of a landing net or some other device might work better than the jaw grip. However, studies have shown that snook survive catch and release very well.

By Captain Ralph Allen

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