Happy Holidays, Captain!

From all of us at Charter Lakes, we would like to wish you and your family a Happy Holiday Season. We also want to thank you for being a valued Charter Lakes customer.

While speaking at a marine insurance conference in October about “underwriting charter boat insurance”, I was asked if I saw an increase in my customer’s charter businesses due to weak boat sales. It made sense to the questioner that if people could not afford to buy a boat the next best thing was to charter a boat. I agreed, but could not report I had heard that business was better this year than it was last year. The problem as I see it is that tourism  has not returned to its pre 9/11 levels. This is especially true of the
charter industry in many parts of the country.

I went on to explain to the audience how affordable it was to charter a boat as opposed to owning a boat. And if you like to fish, the best way to do so was on a charter boat. Fortunately, thousands of people across this country understand this and support the charter industry. I also explained some of the challenges facing the industry.

The Guided Sportfishing Industry faces new challenges to fishery access from the Federal Government in the form of catch shares regulation. This regulation is being promoted and administered by NOAA whose director is a Presidential appointee. This is another example of bureaucrats picking winners and losers at the expense of the recreational angler. This is job and commerce killin regulation that is a direct challenge to our industry and our way of life. While organizations like NACO and the RFA are working hard to fight catch shares, it will take all of us united against this misguided resource grab to stop it. Some of that is grass roots support; some is at the ballot box.

For the past 20 years Charter Lakes has administered the group insurance program for NACO. We support the Charter Industry in part through our support of NACO which has done much for this industry. Much of what we do is behind the scenes, but rest assured, we eat our own cooking, and are staunch advocates of this industry.

At Charter Lakes we focus 100% of our business on marine insurance with a special focus on passenger vessel insurance. We understand the challenges of operating a charter business. We also understand the need for charter insurance that is broad in coverage and affordable in price. Charter Lakes remains the low cost provider of passenger vessel insurance in the country.

Wishing You Peace, Prosperity and Happiness, from all of us at
Charter Lakes!