The Louisiana Department of Wildlife and Fisheries (LDWF) certified 164 boaters statewide after their fourth annual "Boating Education Lagniappe Day" on May 10.

Boating Education Lagniappe Day was at eight locations across the state and consisted of the National Association of Safe Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) boating education course, food and drinks, giveaways and door prizes all free of charge to the public.

The NASBLA safe boating certification is mandatory for anybody born after Jan. 1, 1984 who wants to operate a motorboat in excess of 10 horsepower.

The NASBLA approved course includes information on choosing a boat, classification, hulls, motors, legal requirements and equipment requirements.  The course also covers many navigation rules and charts, trailering, sailboats, canoeing, personal watercraft and more.  Each student received that completed the course was issued a vessel operators certification card.

The eight locations consisted of:

Bossier Parish
Academy Sports and Outdoors
Sponsors: Academy Sports and Outdoors, Bayou Outdoor Supercenter of Bossier City, H&W Marine of Bossier City and O’Reilly Auto Parts.

Ouachita Parish
Academy Sports and Outdoors
Sponsors: Academy Sports and Outdoors, Louisiana Wildlife Agents Association and Pizza Hut.

Rapides Parish
Academy Sports and Outdoors
Sponsors: Academy Sports and Outdoors and the Louisiana Wildlife Agents Association.

St. Landry Parish
St. Landry Lumber
Sponsors: Raising Canes of Opelousas, Acadiana Outfitters of Iberia, Walmart of Eunice and St. Landry Lumber of Opelousas.

Calcasieu Parish
Lake Charles Civic Center
Sponsors: Calcasieu Chapter Whitetails Unlimited.

Lafourche Parish
Lafourche Parish Sheriff’s Office Rifle Range
Sponsors: Louisiana Wildlife Agents Association and Kief's Hardware Inc. of Cutoff.

Ascension Parish
Cabellas
Sponsors: Cabela’s and Louisiana Waterway Safety Inc.

St. Tammany Parish
Madisonville Branch of St. Tammany Parish Public Library
Sponsors: Louisiana Wildlife Agents Association.

For more information on boating regulations and safety, please visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/boating.  For more information on boating education courses, please visit www.wlf.louisiana.gov/boating/courses.

Studies have shown that states with a mandatory boating education program have fewer boating incidents that result in fatalities than states that have no boating education program.  States with a boating education program for more than 20 years had 3.67 fatalities per 100,000 registered boats, and states with no boating education program had 6.61 fatalities per 100,000 boats.

LDWF initiated the state's boating education program in 2003 and has certified over 50,000 boaters during that time.

For more information, contact Adam Einck at aeinck@wlf.la.gov or 225-765-2465.