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| Oct 02 2009 |
| PWIA Presents 2009 Boating Safety Leadership Award
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PWIA Honors Director of the California Department of Boating and Waterways with 2009 Boating Safety Leadership Award
WASHINGTON — The Personal Watercraft Industry Association (PWIA) is pleased to announce the Director of the California Department of Boating and Waterways (DBW), Ray Tsuneyoshi, was awarded its 2009 Boating Safety Leadership Award during the 50th Annual National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) conference in Corpus Christi, Texas. Tsuneyoshi is the third recipient of this annual award, which recognizes a single individual in the boating law community who has displayed significant effort in promoting boater safety.
“Ray has earned this award out of appreciation for his tireless efforts to make California’s waterways safer,” said Maureen Healey, executive director of PWIA. “He has shown an extraordinary passion for boating safety, through his efforts to enact mandatory boating safety education in California.”
Tsuneyoshi has worked to raise the profile of safe boating habits among boaters by working to enact mandatory boater education, emphasizing the importance of staying sober on the water and the necessity of wearing a life jacket. In his eights years at the DBW, he has accomplished a remarkable amount, from defending access for recreational boats on California’s lakes and rivers to his work to help the Department survive a budgetary crisis in the first half of 2009.
“I am honored to receive this award. I share the personal watercraft industry’s belief that an educated boater is a safer boater, which is why I strongly advocate mandatory boating safety education in California,” Tsuneyoshi said.
Tsuneyoshi and the DBW were also founding members of the Lake Mead Safe Boating Partnership, along with PWIA, the National Park Service and the states of Arizona and Nevada. This Partnership aims to educate visiting boaters to Lake Mead from the tri-state area about safe and responsible boating behavior. More information can be found about this program at http://www.boatlakemead.com/.
Tsuneyoshi began working for the recreational boating community in 2001 when he was appointed director of the DBW. In this position, he was the administrator for all boating safety laws in the state. In March 2002, Tsuneyoshi was appointed to the National Boating Safety Advisory Council. Previously, he was the special advisor to the Food Safety and Inspection Services Administrator for the U.S. Department of Agriculture on employee affairs. Before that, he served as the liaison between the USDA and the National Partnerships on Reinventing Government for agency and customer problems.
Past recipients of this award include Virginia Boating Law Administrator Charlie Sledd and Florida Boating Law Administrator Captain Richard Moore.
PWIA is a longtime member and supporter of NASBLA. The personal watercraft industry works across the country with state boating law administrators advocating its model legislation to be adopted. The model bill requires PWC operators to pass an approved boating safety class, be at least 16 years old to operate a PWC (18 to rent), operate PWC only during daylight hours; and seeks to establish no-wake zones within 100 feet of shore or swimmers and punishes reckless operators.
About PWIA
PWIA represents the four manufacturers of personal watercraft: American Honda Motor Company (makers of AquaTrax®), BRP U.S., Inc. (makers of Sea-Doo®), Kawasaki Motors Corp., U.S.A. (makers of JET SKI®) and Yamaha Motor Corp., U.S.A. (makers of WaveRunner®). As a result of remarkable technological advancements, modern personal watercrafts are up to 90 percent cleaner and 70 percent quieter than those produced prior to 1998. More information on personal watercraft can be viewed at www.pwia.org.
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