ROANOKE TIMES
Copyright (c) 1996, Roanoke Times
DATE: Sunday, December 8, 1996 TAG: 9612100022
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C-10 EDITION: METRO
COLUMN: Outdoors
SOURCE: BILL COCHRAN
The Virginia B.A.S.S. Federation has launched into the swirling controversy at Smith Mountain Lake over boating regulations proposed by a task force of the Smith Mountain Lake Association.
The federation, like the task force, believes boaters should be required to have an operator's license earned through mandatory boating education.
But that hardly makes it an ally of the lake association. The bass anglers have more criticism than praise for the task force, which has called for speed limits, noise abatement, more teeth in personal watercraft regulations, liability insurance, more game wardens on Smith Mountain and mandatory boating education.
The federation has sharply chastised the association for not channeling its boat regulation package through the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries, the state agency that regulates and funds boating in Virginia.
``We feel very adamantly that these proposals should have been presented to the staff and Board of Directors of the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries,'' said Ed Rhodes, the federation conservation/natural resources director. ``The Smith Mountain Lake Association needs to recognize that these proposals, such as they are, need to proceed through the proper agencies and not the media.''
Groups or legislators who make an end sweep around the Department of Game and Inland Fisheries and go directly to the General Assembly with boating, fishing and hunting items frequently draw the wrath of outdoor sportsmen. The task force recommendations have been sent to lake association members in survey form for comment
As for some common ground, ``The Virginia B.A.S.S. Federation believes strongly that operator licensing, added restrictions on PWCs and the liability insurance proposals are viable,'' said Rhodes.
B.A.S.S supported a licensing law in Alabama and helped it gain approval several years ago. Sixteen states mandate boating safety education.
Under its revised boating proposals, the task force avoids using the term ``license.'' Boaters support water safety training, but the word license scares them, said Bob Halstead, the task force co-chairman.
That doesn't make the task force proposal anything less than licensing. It would require a boat operator to carry a picture ID that is issued after the completion of a state-approved boating safety course. No one under age 14 could operate a power boat with an engine greater than 10 horsepower.
The newly formed Smith Mountain Lake Boating Association, which quickly jumped to a membership of 75, supports education, but believes it should come from volunteer efforts, not legislation, not licensing.
The task force has adjusted its proposed speed limit, increasing it from 55 to 65 mph, but that doesn't make it any more acceptable to the federation.
In a position statement, the federation said, ``We strongly oppose mandatory speed limits within the Commonwealth, calling the idea ``close to being ludicrous.'' Marine speedometers are notoriously inaccurate and enforcement would be an arduous task for game wardens, the federation said.
Some boats on Smith Mountain can exceed 110 mph, double the maximum speed limit on most state roads, and that's too much, the task force said.
``Smith Mountain Lake is becoming a renegade speed track for power boats,'' the task force said in its final report.
``The Smith Mountain Lake Association needs to recognize that they do not speak for nor do they represent the boating and fishing community in this state,'' said Rhodes.
While viewpoints differ, boaters are after the same thing, a safer lake, said Halstead.
What is certain, no one wants another year of more than 50 reported accidents on the lake.
LENGTH: Medium: 70 linesby CNB