The Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation announced that the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, with assistance from the Florida Department of Highway Safety and Motor Vehicles, is participating in the foundation's Lapsed Boat Registration Pilot Program, which aims to increase boat registration renewals among lapsed boaters.
Florida joins Oregon and Ohio as the third state to implement the direct-mail pilot effort.
"We're pleased to be working with Florida, the `Fishing Capital of the World,' to help get lapsed boaters back out on the water," RBFFpresident and CEO Frank Peterson said in a statement. "We want boat owners to know that they can contribute to fish and wildlife and boating infrastructure programs that help preserve their waterways by simply registering their boat."
The RBFF pilot program started in April 2009 when the owners of lapsed boat registrations in Oregon, who had not renewed their registrations since 2007, were sent direct-mail pieces reminding them about the importance of renewing their registration.
The 2009 Oregon pilot program generated more than $20,000 in new revenue, and the registration renewals also generated an estimated $25,000 in additional revenue to the state of Oregon through state gasoline taxes and allocations from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund
