This photo shows boats moored at Don D. Statter Harbor on a recent sunny day. According to statistics recently release by the U.S. Coast Guard, boating accidents were down in Alaska in 2021.(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

This photo shows boats moored at Don D. Statter Harbor on a recent sunny day. According to statistics recently release by the U.S. Coast Guard, boating accidents were down in Alaska in 2021.(Ben Hohenstatt / Juneau Empire)

Boating fatalities trending down for 2021

Numbers met expectations, said safety instructors.

Last year’s boating casualties were down from 2020’s nationwide spike, according to the Coast Guard’s 2021 Recreational Boating Statistics report.

Alaska, which doesn’t have a mandatory boating education requirement, is nevertheless seeing a lot of people learn safety voluntarily, said Joe McCullough, the state’s boating law administrator for the Division of Parks and Outdoor Recreation.

“We’re heading in the right direction. We’re seeing more people take classes,” McCullough said in an interview. “The partners, the attitudes — I think there’s a cultural shift and I hope people keep it up.”

There were only 14 boating fatalities in Alaska last year, said District 17 boating safety specialist Mike Folkerts in an interview. Five of those casualties were in the Southeast, according to the report.

“We don’t have high numbers of fatalities,” Folkerts said. “We have high percentages because we have a low population.”

Of the 658 deaths for recreational boaters in 2021 across the U.S. and its far-flung territories, the highest total was Florida with 61, followed by Texas with 58, according to the report.

“Our numbers are never that high. Anything in the 20s range is high for us. But that’s nothing for somewhere like Florida, California, Michigan,” McCullough said. “Overall we’ve seen a marked decrease from when the boating safety act was passed in 1998. We were averaging close to 30 fatalities a year. Now we’re closer to 15 a year.”

[Boating safety, better lake than never]

Through knowledge, seapower

Both McCullough and Folkerts pointed out how programs like Kids Don’t Float are reflected in Alaska’s flotation device use numbers and in declining casualties over the years.

“Our (life jacket) wear rate for 13-18 year olds is 4-5 times the national average. That was not the case in 2000,” McCullough said. “Now, we’re seeing it go to adults. Those kids are growing. It’s like seatbelts. We’re seeing a change in the culture.”

Casualties have been shifting from motorboats to more paddlecraft, such as stand-up paddleboards, kayaks and canoes, Folkerts said.

“I base our programs around our fatality demographics,” Folkerts said. “That’s why we’re shifting a little more toward paddlecraft.”

Paddlecraft are not required to be registered in the state of Alaska, which is also one of the only states without a mandatory boater safety education program, Folkerts said. However, many adults have voluntarily reached out for boater safety courses, McCullough said.

“Education isn’t mandatory but we have people begging for training. I was afraid we were going to lose staff this spring because we were so overworked. We were kind of prepared for the schools to reengage after two years,” McCullough said. “That was what put them over the top — all the requests for adult training.”

Alaska’s first recreational boater casualty of the year was a kayaker near Chitina, according to Folkerts — a very late date in the year for the first casualty, especially considering the number of people on the water.

“I was pleasantly surprised that was our first fatal, given how many people on the water,” McCullough said. “We’re seeing more boating in the last couple years than we saw before.”

Both the Coast Guard and the state try to train as many people as request training as possible, McCullough said, even if it’s in a hard-to-reach location.

“We don’t turn down any reasonable request. We don’t turn down these communities just because they’re small or expensive,” McCullough said. “We don’t show up uninvited. We’re always demand-based; we’re invited out there. So if Sand Point or Clark’s Point ask, we show up.”

The next major step would be a state regulation mandating boater education, Folkerts said.

“We’re doing what we can with what we have,” Folkerts said. “Once we get some mandatory education, that’s really going to make a difference.”

Page 63 of Recreational-Boating-Statistics-2021

Contributed to DocumentCloud by Ben Hohenstatt (Juneau Empire) • View document or read text

• Contact reporter Michael S. Lockett at (757) 621-1197 or mlockett@juneauempire.com.

More in News

(Juneau Empire file photo)
Aurora forecast through the week of Nov. 3

These forecasts are courtesy of the University of Alaska Fairbanks’ Geophysical Institute… Continue reading

A weather-beaten Kamala Harris campaign sign is seen on the railing along a downtown street on Wednesday. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
How Juneau voted: Support for Trump varies between 55% near airport to 15.7% in downtown precinct

Voters in two local districts favor keeping ranked choice voting, while statewide residents evenly split.

The Alaska governor’s mansion on Wednesday. Gov. Mike Dunleavy is considered a contender for a post in Donald Trump’s second presidential administration. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire)
Election summary: Trump wins, GOP takes over U.S. Senate, Alaska may get new governor

Begich and repeal of ranked choice voting narrowly lead; GOP may lose control of state House.

Nesbett Courthouse in downtown Anchorage on Oct. 7, 2024. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Voters line up at the polling site at Anchorage City Hall on Nov. 4, 2024. City Hall was one of the designated early voting sites in Alaska’s largest city. It is not a designated site for Election Day voting. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Alaska Republicans lose two seats in state House, increasing odds of leadership switch

Rural Alaska precincts had reported few results by 11:30 p.m. Tuesday night.

Donald Trump won or was leading as of Wednesday morning in all seven swing states in the 2024 presidential election. (Doug Mills / The New York Times)
Donald Trump returns to power, ushering in new era of uncertainty

He played on fears of immigrants and economic worries to defeat Vice President Kamala Harris.

Republican U.S. House candidate Nick Begich and his supporters wave campaign signs at the corner of the Seward Highway and Northern Lights Boulevard on Nov. 4, 2024, the day before Election Day. (Yereth Rosen/Alaska Beacon)
Begich leads in early results, but Alaska’s U.S. House race won’t be immediately decided

About 255,000 ballots counted as of 3 a.m. Wednesday, Peltola trails by 4.4% with many rural votes uncounted.

A voter is handed as ballot at Woodworth School in Dearborn, Mich., on Tuesday, Nov. 5, 2024. One of the most consequential presidential elections in the nation’s modern history is well underway, as voters flocked to churches, schools and community centers to shape the future of American democracy. (Nick Hagen/The New York Times)
Trump ‘likely to win the presidency’ as he holds advantage in key swing states

Former Republican president has 95+% chance of victory as of 9 p.m., according to NY Times forecast.

Juneau Assembly members and other visitors gather in the entrance lobby of the Michael J. Burns Building on Monday, April 8, 2024, as part of their on-site tour of potential locations for a new City Hall. (Mark Sabbatini / Juneau Empire file photo)
‘Office space shuffle’ for city workers continues with plan to buy part of Michael J. Burns Building

CBJ would purchase two floors, Permanent Fund Corp. would keep top floor under “condo” agreement.

Most Read