Boater Certification Requirements

IMPORTANT NEW BOATER CERTIFICATION REQUIREMENTS

Start­ing April 1, 2026, a valid boater safe­ty cer­tifi­cate will be required for all indi­vid­u­als oper­at­ing motor­boats and PWCs in Massachusetts.

 WHO NEEDS A CERTIFICATE:

Born after Jan­u­ary 1, 1989:

  • Must obtain a cer­tifi­cate by April 1, 2026. 
    No penal­ties will be enforced until Sep­tem­ber 1, 2026.

Born on or before Jan­u­ary 1, 1989:

  •   Must obtain a cer­tifi­cate before April 1, 2028.

All oper­a­tors of motor­boats and PWCs will be required to car­ry proof of com­ple­tion of an approved boater edu­ca­tion course while on the water.

 REQUIREMENTS FOR YOUTH OPERATORS:

The fol­low­ing reg­u­la­tions are in effect until March 31, 2026:

 Ages 12 to 15:

  • Must com­plete an approved basic boat­ing course to oper­ate a motor­boat with­out adult supervision.
  • Upon suc­cess­ful­ly com­plet­ing the course, stu­dents will receive a state-issued “boat­ing safe­ty cer­tifi­cate.” This cer­tifi­cate must be kept in the pos­ses­sion of the cer­ti­fied oper­a­tor when on the water.

 Ages 16 to 17:

  • Indi­vid­u­als who wish to oper­ate per­son­al water­craft must also com­plete an pproved boat­ing course.

Ages 12 to 16:

  • Youth under the age of 16 are not allowed to oper­ate per­son­al watercraft.

Under 12:

  • Youth under the age of 12 are not allowed to oper­ate a motor­boat unless super­vised by an adult.

For more infor­ma­tion and HOW TO GET CERTIFIED click here:

Get your Mass­a­chu­setts Boat­ing License & Safe­ty Course | Boat-Ed

BOAT REGISTRATION REQUIREMENTS

We will see an increased pres­ence of the Envi­ron­men­tal Police this sum­mer to rein­force safe­ty.  This means they will be check­ing all boaters for reg­is­tra­tion and required safe­ty equip­ment. Please see below to be sure you are prepared.

“In Mass­a­chu­setts, any boat pow­ered by a motor and oper­at­ed on pub­lic water­ways, includ­ing lakes, must be reg­is­tered. This includes motor­ized canoes, sail­boats, fish­ing boats, and per­son­al water­craft like jet skis. Boats not requir­ing reg­is­tra­tion are those that are not motor-pow­ered and those doc­u­ment­ed by the U.S. Coast Guard.” 

RECIPROCITY WITH OTHER STATES

Mass­a­chu­setts has reci­procity with oth­er states for boat­ing edu­ca­tion cer­tifi­cates, though there are spe­cif­ic con­di­tions. The key is the NASBLA standard:

  • NAS­BLA-Approved Cours­es: Mass­a­chu­setts will gen­er­al­ly rec­og­nize and accept boat­ing edu­ca­tion cer­tifi­cates from oth­er states, ter­ri­to­ries, and Cana­di­an provinces, pro­vid­ed the course meets the require­ments of the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of State Boat­ing Law Admin­is­tra­tors (NASBLA). Most states’ offi­cial boat­ing safe­ty cours­es are NASBLA-approved.

  • Non-Res­i­dents: A non-res­i­dent oper­at­ing a boat in Mass­a­chu­setts waters is typ­i­cal­ly allowed to use a boater safe­ty edu­ca­tion cer­tifi­cate issued by their approved jurisdiction.

In sum­ma­ry: If you or a fam­i­ly mem­ber already holds a valid Boater Safe­ty Card/Certificate issued by anoth­er state, and that cer­tifi­cate was obtained by pass­ing a nation­al­ly approved (NASBLA) course, it should sat­is­fy the new Mass­a­chu­setts require­ment. It must be car­ried on board the ves­sel while operating.
 
It’s up to the indi­vid­ual to deter­mine whether their license/certificate was obtained by com­plet­ing a NAS­BLA-approved course.

The infor­ma­tion above was sum­ma­rized from the law excep­tions page: https://www.mass.gov/info-detail­s/­mass-gen­er­al-laws-c90b-ss-9e#

 

Boat Reg­is­tra­tion | Mass.gov