WASHINGTON, D.C. – The U.S. Coast Guard has released its annual report on recreational boating incidents for the 2023 calendar year, revealing a significant decrease in both fatalities and overall incidents compared to the previous year.
According to the report, there were 564 boating fatalities nationwide in 2023, an 11.3 percent decrease from the 636 deaths reported in 2022. The total number of recreational boating incidents also saw a decline of 4.9 percent, falling from 4,040 in 2022 to 3,844 in 2023. Non-fatal injuries among boaters also decreased by 4.3 percent.
The fatality rate in 2023 was 4.9 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels, marking a 9.3 percent decrease from the 2022 rate of 5.4 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels. This represents a substantial improvement compared to 1971, the year the Safe Boating Act was first passed, when the fatality rate was 20.6 deaths per 100,000 registered recreational vessels.
Tragically, alcohol continued to be the leading known contributing factor in fatal boating accidents, accounting for 79 deaths, or 17 percent of the total fatalities in 2023.
The data also highlighted that a significant majority (75 percent) of deaths occurred on vessels operated by individuals who had not received any formal boating safety instruction. Drowning was the reported cause of death in 75 percent of all boating fatalities, and alarmingly, 87 percent of those who drowned were not wearing life jackets.
Open motorboats, personal watercraft (PWCs), and cabin motorboats were the vessel types most frequently involved in reported incidents.
The Coast Guard continues to emphasize the importance of boater education and the consistent use of life jackets. “The most frequent event in fatal incidents involved people ending up in the water. A fall overboard, capsizing, and cases where a person voluntarily departed a vessel accounted for over half of fatal incidents,” stated a Coast Guard representative.
The report also indicated that operator inattention, improper lookout, operator inexperience, excessive speed, and machinery failure were the top five primary contributing factors in boating accidents overall. Property damage due to recreational boating accidents totaled $63 million in 2023.
The U.S. Coast Guard urges all boaters to prioritize safety by taking boating safety courses, wearing properly fitted life jackets at all times, and avoiding alcohol consumption while operating a vessel.