Don’t forget your personal flotation device; if you’re on a vessel less than 26 feet in length in New Jersey, you have to be wearing it!
Implemented during the 2023-2024 season, regulation 13:82-1.4(f) states that no owner or operator of a recreational vessel less than 26 feet shall permit its operation between November 1 and May 1 unless each person onboard is wearing a securely fastened United States Coast Guard (USCG) approved wearable personal flotation device of an appropriate size while such vessel is underway.
A person inside the cabin of a cabin vessel shall be exempt from this requirement.
This regulation also includes rowboats, canoes, kayaks, and stand-up paddleboards. “In short, A USCG approved life jacket is required to be worn at all times, outside of a cabin on a boat under 26 feet during the cold-water months, while in motion, from November 1st to May 1st,” is what the New Jersey Division of Fish & Wildlife explains in their initial post on October 5, 2023 in announcing the new regulation.
“The goal of this new regulation is to prevent hypothermia deaths and to decrease the risks placed upon first responders during winter search and rescue operations on the waters of New Jersey,” the division stated, adding “In almost every instance of a vessel related drowning, the victim was not wearing a life vest.”
According to the New Jersey State Police, this PFD regulation is in the best interest of the safety of operators and passengers on all New Jersey’s waterways.
In Coast Guard terms, being “underway” means when a vessel is not anchored, not moored, and not stuck on the bottom.
