New boat permits required for Lake Norman. How are they being enforced?

LAKE NORMAN, N.C. — With Labor Day weekend upon us, many families will venture out on our lakes, including Lake Norman. But in an effort to prevent so many tragedies we’ve seen there, the Lake Norman Marine Commission implemented some new rules earlier this year.

After hearing concerns from people who live and work on the lake, 9 Investigates how well those rules are being followed.

The rules

The pristine waters of Lake Norman draw people in from all over.

“It’s a great time,” said Matt Ryan, a captain for Carolina Cruising Charters.

“It’s over 100 feet deep in the deep parts, and it gets wavy and it gets rough.”

Ryan knows the waters well. His company has four permitted charter boats.

“They’re boat rentals with a captain we pay for. We have everything included,” he said.

If you want to drive a rental boat yourself or pay a captain for a charter boat, you need to have a permit on Lake Norman. The permit from the Lake Norman Marine Commission comes with a sticker.

Lake Norman permits If you want to drive a rental boat yourself or pay a captain for a charter boat, you need to have a permit on Lake Norman. The permit from the Lake Norman Marine Commission comes with a sticker.

The permits are part of new regulations the commission put in place last year. They help keep people safe on what the Lake Norman Marine Commission calls the state’s most dangerous body of water.

John Johnson is on the commission and said the permit ensures the rental company has met all requirements:

A safety inspection of the vessel
Insurance
A hired captain (who must have a captain’s license with the U.S. Coast Guard)

“We found that more than half of our fatalities are involving rental vessels — either charters or rentals, more than half,” Johnson said.

Ryan said his captains see dangerous scenarios all the time.

“It’s anything you can imagine. Boats cutting everywhere, boats riding too close, near-misses. We see boat crashes all the time,” he said.

Enforcement

Channel 9′s Hunter Sáenz asked Ryan what he’s seen since the regulations have been put in place.

“I think they’re great,” Ryan said. “The only problem is, there’s not a lot of enforcement on them.”

“We know of hundreds of illegal charters,” he added.

Sáenz found the same online: Boats available for rent but not on the list of permitted boats. He called several rental companies not on that list to ask why.

“The requirement for the sticker is only Mecklenburg County — it’s not Lake Norman-wide,” a representative for one company said.

But that’s not true. A permit is needed on all of Lake Norman.

Ryan and Johnson said compliance wouldn’t be an issue if there was more enforcement from agencies all around the lake. But with more than 500 miles of shoreline on Lake Norman, officers have to respond to all sorts of incidents and can’t be everywhere all the time.

Ryan said some rental companies that are breaking the rules know exactly which ramps to use where they won’t be caught.

“They’re moving up the lake to maybe Beattys Ford access area in Denver, maybe moving up to Hager Creek, their pinnacle access area,” Ryan said. “They’re moving positions to try to still be able to do what they’re doing.”

And Sáenz heard that in one of his calls with an unpermitted charter.

“From what we were told, it was only for Mecklenburg County locations that you’re docking out of,” they said.

“Gotcha, so, if you were to put in in Iredell, you wouldn’t need it?” Sáenz asked.

“Right, if you put in in Iredell, no one bothers you,” they said.

Moving forward

Johnson said something needs to change to keep the waters and those on them safe.

“We’ve seen an improvement so far this year,” Johnson said. “Now, has that stopped it from happening? No. Has it reduced? Yes.”

As of Aug. 1, the lake commission only has 12 charter companies registered with permits. But they know there are dozens more companies operating boats.

A person can be fined up to $500 for renting a boat that doesn’t have one of the two permits. The people renting them out could face the same fine or jail time if they’re caught without them.

So how can someone be sure the company they’re renting from is legitimate?

No matter what, if you don’t see one of the two permit stickers — one for a boat rental or one for a charter rental — then, it’s not permitted. You’ll see it right on the side of the boat.

(WATCH BELOW: Divers recover body of man who drowned in Lake Norman)