Page 26: of Marine News Magazine (January 2026)

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Insights

Captain Steve Jones, President, PVA meet this looming deadline. To assist its members, PVA a charter agreement was signed that established today’s PVA/ quickly assembled a working group, from PVA’s Safety and Coast Guard Quality Partnership (QP). Held twice a year,

Security Committee, which swung into action. This group these meetings involve PVA and Coast Guard leaders. This promptly developed an excellent PVA Cybersecurity Train- past fall, RADM Wayne Arguin briefed PVA leaders on the ing Program that PVA members could easily implement to Coast Guard’s Force Design 2028 initiative which is taking not only meet the deadline but also that would fully meet steps to modernize the Coast Guard to improve capabilities the Coast Guard’s regulatory requirements. The PVA Cy- and readiness. This was clearly an important topic to dis- bersecurity Training Program can be accessed via the PVA cuss as it impacts every aspect of or industry. Other issues

Member Resource section at, www.passengervessel.com covered during the QP included PVA’s deregulatory efforts, mariner credentialling issues, cybersecurity regulations, ille-

Discuss if you will PVA’s partnership with the gal charters, slips, trips, and falls reporting, ? re? ghter train-

U.S. Coast Guard. ing, and safety management systems updates.

PVA’s af? liation with the Coast Guard, from a regulatory That our two organizations can meet twice a year to have and vessel inspection standpoint, spans more than 50 years. open discussions about issues of common concern in a non-

This impressive relationship has evolved and progressed regulatory environment allows us to work together to solve as our two organizations have expanded in size and breadth problems before they become serious. The bene? ts to PVA of business and professional involvements. While the pas- members of this type of collaboration are immeasurable. senger vessel industry is generally considered to be small- scale by international standards, more than 6,000 passenger Illegal Charters have been a problem for pas- vessels currently fall under Coast Guard regulatory author- senger vessel owner operators for years. Are ity. These vessels are located in virtually every port in the we making any headway?

nation and are diverse in their activities and physical charac- PVA has raised safety concerns about illegal charter op- teristics. Because of this diversity there was a need to come erators with the Coast Guard and Congress for many years. together to promote safety by discussing important passen- While Coast Guard enforcement has increased in many ger vessel issues in an open, non-regulatory forum. In 1996, ports there still remains room for much improvement. PVA members who participated in the 2025 PVA Congressio- nal Fly-In played a key role in advocating for the need for greater enforcement when they raised the issue of illegal charters in every Congressional of? ce they visited, speak- ing directly with Members of Congress and staff about the dangers illegal charter operations pose to the general pub- lic. PVA’s Congressional Fly-In message was so impactful that the Chairman and the Ranking Member of the House

Transportation and Infrastructure Committee sent a letter to Government Accountability Of? ce (GAO) requesting a careful review of the threats from illegal charter operations.

As a result, GAO will conduct a study to de? ne the scale of the problem and highlight where enforcement resources should be focused and support evidence-based recommen- dations to Congress for ? xing the problem.

The forthcoming GAO study establishes a critical mile-

L to R: Captain Steve Jones, PVA President, stone in combating the growing problem of illegal char- 2025 and RADM Wayne Arguin confer during ters operations in the United States. It will focus necessary the 2025 Fall PVA/Coast Guard Quality

Congressional attention on the need for broader enforce-

Partnership Meeting in Washington D.C. ment to protect the safety of the American public. 26 | MN January 2026