Do Your Part to Keep Summer Days on the Water Safe and Fun for Everyone

Boating Rules

Keep Safe on the Water this Summer

Summer days on the water with family and friends are ahead. Here’s a primer on how to keep those days safe and fun for the entire crew.

The importance of life jackets cannot be underestimated. If you’re floating through whitewater, get caught in a storm, or you’re not a good swimmer, wearing a lifejacket could save your life. These rules are there to help keep summer days on the water safe and fun for everyone.

River Etiquette 

How to Share the River

Whether you’re an angler, hiker, wildlife viewer, camper, floater or boater, it’s pretty easy to have a great summer experience on Montana’s rivers.

The key is river etiquette, a mix of common sense, courtesy, and respect to minimize one party’s impact on another party’s good time. 

Safety Primer

Boating Safety is as Easy as 1, 2, 3

As the summer boating season begins, FWP urges all boaters to follow three basic rules on the water:

1. Designate a skipper who won’t drink alcoholic beverages while the boat is on the water.

2. Have approved lifejackets on board and readily accessible for every passenger, and require children under 12 years of age to abide by the law and wear their lifejackets when the boat is in motion.

3. Do not exceed a boat’s safe carrying capacity. Boats that are over loaded or unbalanced are more likely to capsize.

Education

FWP Offers Boating Safety Course

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks reminds boat operators to take a boating safety course. FWP’s boat education program includes a home-study course or on-line education course for motorboat and personal watercraft operators.

Free New Decals

New Boat Validation Decals Required

Owners of motorboats, sailboats or personal watercraft need to get new, free 2014-2017 validation decals for their watercraft soon. The current orange decals expired Feb. 28.

Boaters who have permanently registered their boats, sailboats, or PWC must still obtain two free boat validation decals every three years at FWP regional and area offices, or online.

Montana Boating Laws

Boating Accidents Must Be Reported

In Montana, the most common types of boating accidents are collisions with another vessel, capsizing, collision with fixed or floating objects and falling overboard.

Boating accidents that result in more than $100 in damage must be reported to FWP. All accidents that result in the death or disappearance of someone, and injuries that require medical treatment, also must be reported.

Water Recreation Rules

Know the ‘No-Wake’ Rules

If you recreate on the water, it is your responsibility to know and understand the “no-wake” rules in effect on Montana waters. That includes operators of personal watercraft. In general, the same rules apply to all types of watercraft.

“No-wake” means a vessel must travel at a speed where there is no “white” water in the track or path of the vessel, or in waves created by the vessel.

Invasive Species

Remember to “Inspect. Clean. Dry.”

FWP encourage Montanans and visitors to “inspect, clean, and dry,” boats, trailers and fishing gear to “Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers!”

The hitchhikers are aquatic invasive species (AIS) unintentionally brought into Montana from other places. They include clams, fish, mussels, plants, weeds, and disease-causing organisms that can overwhelm lakes and rivers, kill fish and plants, and damage ecosystems.

 

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