Water Safety Updates

As we head into the last major weekend of the summer, we wanted to share some good news about water safety.

The SRCLA partners with Minnesota Lakes & Rivers (MLR), who has lobbied the state legislature for many years to create a boaters education and certification program. Minnesota was one of only eight states that did not have a boater license requirement.

In 2025, the Legislature passed a new Boater Education and Certification requirement. The law went into effect on July 1, 2026.

 There were multiple reasons MLR pushed for a boater license:

• Public Safety:  For years boating deaths in Minnesota ranged between 10 and 20 annually.

• Over-Powered Boats:  Manufacturers are increasing the horsepower of boats, making them much faster. Boats that can travel 70 mph are not uncommon today. 

• User conflicts:  Some activities, like wake surfing, negatively affect other activities, like angling, kayaking or paddle boarding.

• Ecological impacts:  Shoreline erosion, destruction of waterfowl nests (loons), destruction of native aquatic plants and reanimation of sediments was increasing.

• Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Prevention:  The spread of AIS is preventable with best practices, yet AIS propagation rates remain high.

The Minnesota DNR recently released their 2026 Yearly Watercraft Accident Records and Statistics.

 Minnesota's waters are the safest that they have ever been, reporting four boating fatalities. This continues a trend from 2025, when boater safety training went online, where there were seven boating fatalities. 

 For comparison, in 1961, the first year that MN tracked boating fatalities, there were 57.

Even if you’re not required by law to take the course, consider taking a few hours to complete the online course.  There are two options, Boat-Ed Minnesota or BoaterExam Minnesota. These official courses take about 3 to 4 hours to complete, allow you to learn at your own pace from any device, and cost a one-time fee (around $34.95) upon passing the final exam.