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Sadly, Keys come out on top again: Boat crashes

By Kevin Wadlow

kwadlow@keynoter.com
The Monroe Sheriff’s Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and U.S. Coast Guard work Thursday to rescue three men from an overturned vessel off Marathon. They were fishing for snapper when the boat took on water and overturned. At 6:40 p.m., all three men were safely aboard a Coast Guard vessel. They are from Hialeah. The boat is an 18-foot open fisherman. SeaTow was called to recover the boat.
The Monroe Sheriff’s Office, Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission and U.S. Coast Guard work Thursday to rescue three men from an overturned vessel off Marathon. They were fishing for snapper when the boat took on water and overturned. At 6:40 p.m., all three men were safely aboard a Coast Guard vessel. They are from Hialeah. The boat is an 18-foot open fisherman. SeaTow was called to recover the boat. Sheriff’s Office

The Florida Keys preserve their spot as the most perilous place for boating accidents in the most perilous state.

A newly issued U.S. Coast Guard report, “2016 Recreational Boating Statistics,” identifies Florida as far and away the most likely place for boaters to have a serious accident. Monroe County, which comprises the Florida Keys, ranks No. 1 in a Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission report, “2016 Top 11 Counties For Boating Accidents.”

The Coast Guard report says Florida accounted for 70 boating deaths last year, a whisper under 10 percent of the 701 fatalities logged nationally. Three people died in the Keys as a result of the 142 serious boating accidents in 2016, the FWC report says.

However, while the Coast Guard lists 70 boating-related deaths in Florida, the FWC puts the statewide number at 56. Reasons for the difference could not be ascertained at deadline.

“Typically over half of Florida’s boating fatalities each year are due to falls overboard and boaters entering the water unprepared,” says an FWC statement on the need for life preservers.

Florida suffered 684 major boating accidents — those involving a death, serious injury or $2,000 in damage — during 2016, the Coast Guard found.

California was second in accidents (386) and third in deaths (47). Texas had 53 boating fatalities, second nationally, on just 176 accidents.

Florida also had the most significant boating-damage financial cost, $9.66 million, nearly 20 percent of the national boating damages of $49.13 million.

Operator inattention or lack of experience were cited as the two leading cause of accidents nationally.

“Alcohol use is the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents where the primary cause was known,” the Coast Guard report says. “It was listed as the leading factor in 15 percent of [boating] deaths.”

In Monroe County, the FWC attributed 28 serious accidents to “inexperience” and 24 to “failure to maintain a lookout.” “Excessive speed” was listed as the cause of a dozen Florida Keys accidents.

Hitting a fixed object, such as a marker or dock, accounted for 27 Keys accidents, the FWC reported. Colliding with another boat caused 26 accidents. Twelve major boating accidents from the Keys were due to boats that swamped or flooded.

Other notes from the 2016 Coast Guard report:

▪ Eight out of every 10 boaters who drowned were using vessels less than 21 feet in length.

▪ Propeller strikes killed 24 people nationally and caused 175 injuries.

▪ Nationally, the 701 deaths were the highest recorded in five years, up 12 percent from 2015. However, just nine of the past 20 years have seen fewer that 700 national boating deaths.

Kevin Wadlow: 305-440-3206

This story was originally published June 3, 2017 at 9:40 AM with the headline "Sadly, Keys come out on top again: Boat crashes."