Jet Ski fans, foes square off
Local option to regulate machines

April 30, 2003

Shaun Sutner
TELEGRAM & GAZETTE STAFF

BOSTON- To enthusiasts, they are the ultimate fun recreational vehicle.

But environmentalists, local officials and some shoreline residents are mounting a new effort to allow cities and towns to ban personal watercraft from lakes and ponds.

Two bills filed by lawmakers from the South Shore would empower local communities to keep the craft - often referred to by one popular brand, Jet Ski - as the individual-sized, nimble boats are commonly called - out of bodies of water 750 acres or smaller.

As examples: Indian Lake is 204 acres; Lake Quinsigamond is 772 acres, and Webster Lake is 1,270 acres.

Similar legislation died in the state Senate two years ago after being approved in the House.

Critics say the watercraft are noisy, unsafe and polluting, despite recent technological advances that have made them quieter and cleaner.

"They are still destructive to wildlife habitat and they still dump fuel into the water," James B. McCaf frey, director of the Massachusetts Sierra Club, said before a hearing of the Legislature's Public Safety Committee yesterday.

"We think this is a local issue, not a state issue. Cities and towns know their own waters," Anita Poss, a spokeswoman for the Conservation Law Foundation, testified at the hearing. "Cities and towns ought to be able to regulate the business and operation of personal watercraft."

Supporters, however, maintain that arguments against the machines made when they first hit the market in large numbers a decade ago are outdated.

Newer 4-stroke engines and direct, fuel-injected 2-stroke engines have made the machines more than 70 percent quieter and less polluting, they say.

Douglas Shogren, owner of Hank's Marina in Leicester, who was at the hearing to defend the rights of watercraft users and sellers, argued that at about $8,500 each, the vehicles are an affordable way to get into boating. There are about 6,000 registered personal watercraft in Massachusetts.

"I sell them usually to middle-aged people who just want the freedom to get out there and ride," Mr. Shogren said.

Shawn K. Sheehy, a Boston lobbyist for the industry, said banning the machines from smaller lakes and ponds will lead to further restriction.

"It will be a domino effect; when one lake is closed, riders will move to another lake and that will be closed. Pretty soon they'll all be closed," Mr. Sheehy said.

Committee members appeared divided over the legislation.

The new chairman of the committee, liberal state Sen. Jarrett T. Barrios, D-Cambridge, asked several questions about accidents involving the machines and their noise levels.

But Sen. Stephen M. Brewer of Barre, a conservative-moderate Democrat, said the bills do not clearly spell out issues such as which community has jurisdiction over a shared lake, such as 293-acre Lake Lashaway in East Brookfield and North Brookfield.

Mr. Brewer also questioned whether communities have the money in the current fiscal crunch to properly enforce a ban on personal watercraft.