Twenty-five Years of Providing Access for Boaters

In 1984, a landmark expansion of the Sport Fish Restoration (SFR) Program was signed into law that set in motion unprecedented improvements to recreational boating access across the United States. These new provisions (collectively named the Wallop-Breaux amendments after their Congressional sponsors) capture the portion of the federal tax on gasoline attributable to recreational boating and distribute the funds to state agencies for the development or renovation of facilities that improve the accessibility of waters to recreational boaters. In 2008, acting director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service (Service) Rowan Gould requested that the Sport Fishing and Boating Partnership Council (Council) undertake an assessment of the boating access provisions of the Federal Aid in Sport Fish Restoration Program "...to ensure that it continues to provide maximum benefits to our fishing and boating stakeholders." The Council formed an 11-member subcommittee for this purpose, which included members from state agencies and key boating-related constituencies as well as others knowledgeable about boating access programs and needs. During 2008 - 2010, this Assessment Subcommittee worked closely with state agencies and Service personnel from around the country to assess the effectiveness of the program using the following guidelines: Is the program meeting its legislative intent? How well is the program performing? Are there redundancies in the program (what does it do that it might not need to do)? Are there deficiencies in the program (what should it be doing that it currently is not)? This report details the results of that assessment.