U.S. Coast Guard officials say planned enforcement of federal regulations on many of the area’s largest lakes, including Lake Vermilion, isn’t an effort to harm commerce— and we don’t doubt that the officers charged with enforcing these rules are sincere in that belief.

But the reality is that the federal regulations regarding boats for hire were not designed with inland lakes in mind and their application here is impractical and unnecessarily burdensome to small businesses and employees alike.

No one disputes that area fishing guides, towboat operators, or others who haul passengers on the water should operate safely. But the record strongly suggests that they already do, in large part because they already comply with state safety regulations, which are more appropriate to the conditions local operators contend with day-to-day.

Adding an additional layer of regulation won’t necessarily enhance safety, but it will substantially increase the expense of operation for dozens of local businesses, and likely cost many younger employees of these companies their jobs.

Take the many outfitters who operate towing services in the Boundary Waters, for example. Most hire local high school or college students to run their towboats during the roughly three month summer season. If existing federal regulations are now enforced, that practice will likely disappear. For one thing, obtaining a federal license requires days of training, at least 90 days of previous experience, a physical, drug testing, CPR and first aid certification, and enrollment in a random drug and alcohol testing program as well as application for a federal identification card. The price tag for all of the above is well over $1,000 per person, not including time for classwork, travel, or other inconveniences. College students are unlikely to pay for such training and certification, nor are outfitters, who would have to sign up their workers months in advance in order to get them trained, with no guarantee that they wouldn’t change their summer plans in the meantime. And since many students only work for an outfitter for a summer or two, it would be an annual cost and a major hassle for outfitters, In the end, most would probably simply quit offering the service, which would not only reduce income for them, but would likely prompt some visitors to frequent parts of the Boundary Waters without the large lakes for which the Ely area is well known.

None of this, of course, is the fault of the Coast Guard officials locally. They are simply responding to direction from Washington— which is where the only practical solution lies. That’s why our representatives there, from Congressman Jim Oberstar to Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken, need to hear from folks here, and soon. They need to understand that regulations can’t be one size fits all. It’s ridiculous to expect a towboat operator on Moose Lake to meet the same standards as a charter captain on the Gulf of Mexico.

There are certainly many instances where federal regulations are important and valuable. This isn’t one of them. In this case, the regulations are unnecessary, overly burdensome, and should be re-examined as soon as possible.