Posted on March 10, 2026
On March 3 and 4, AIWA board members and executive director Brad Pickel made their annual trip to Washington, DC to communicate our federal funding needs for the next fiscal year (FY2027) starting on October 1. The advocacy meetings were held with 12 Congressional offices from Virginia to Georgia, while our partners at the Florida Inland Navigation District met with members of the Florida delegation.
In the meetings, we had two main appropriation requests. Depending on whether the member of Congress was willing to make an earmark request (also known as Community Project Funding in the U.S. House of Representatives and Congressionally Directed Spending in the U.S. Senate), we asked for direct funding for the waterways in their U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ District (Corps). We requested amounts based on previous estimates of Operational and Maintenance needs provided by Corps. In FY2026, we were successful in receiving one earmark for $4.222 million requested by Congressman Greg Murphy, which increased our funding in North Carolina from $12.5 million to $16.722 million.
In all offices, we requested Programmatic Funding for Additional Funding for Ongoing Work in the Corps Operations & Maintenance Account. In FY2026, over $850 million was appropriated by Congress in the three categories of Navigation Maintenance; Small, Remote or Subsistence Navigation; and Inland Waterways. The Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway is eligible to receive funding in each of these three categories, however, we are more likely to receive funding in the Inland Waterway category. Therefore in FY2027, we requested that category be increased from $47.243 million to $100 million.
Click here to read our Atlantic Intracoastal Waterway Association’s Fiscal Year 2027 Federal Funding Priorities for Programmatic Funding.
Looking ahead
We continue to await the final funding amounts for 2026 through the Corps work plan process while we are advocating for robust federal funding in FY2027. In addition, we are waiting to see what funding amounts are proposed for the Corps in the President’s budget for FY2027. This is generally the first step in the appropriations process, but the release of the President’s budget has been delayed with an anticipated release at the end of March.
Once we are able to see the proposed funding for FY2027 in the President’s budget, we will reconnect with our Congressional partners to ensure that our requests with the proposed amount of funding in the President’s budget will lead to full funding of the waterway next year.
United States Coast Guard Launches 2026 National Recreational Boating Safety Survey
A recent press release from our partners in the U.S. Coast Guard:
The United States Coast Guard launches the 2026 National Recreational Boating Safety Survey The survey is the only source for recreational boating data in all 50 states and informs about safety and security on the water.
The United States Coast Guard (USCG) is launching the 2026 National Recreational Boating Safety Survey (NRBSS), which will provide detailed estimates in every state of how many people go boating, what types of boats they use, and how often they go boating. This survey is funded under a grant from the Sport Fish Restoration and Boating Trust Fund administered by the USCG.
The survey supports national safety and law enforcement programs by improving boating safety. The 2026 NRBSS is particularly important as it is the first time the survey has been conducted since 2020 when the industry saw a rise in boating as an outdoor activity across the country. The Coast Guard has regularly conducted the survey since 1973, and it was last conducted in 2018.
“The NRBSS has an extensive history of giving important insight into how people are boating in waterways across the country,” said Captain Brent Schmadeke, Office Chief, Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary Boating Safety, United States Coast Guard. “The findings are critical in guiding the Coast Guard’s security efforts to keep boating safe and enjoyable for everyone.”
The survey is being conducted via cooperative agreement by NORC at the University of Chicago, a nonpartisan research organization that has been conducting impactful research and analysis for more than 80 years. Over the next year, NORC will interview more than 50,000 households across all 50 states and the District of Columbia to gather information from individuals who own or rent boats. The results will provide valuable information to national, state, and local agencies through both national and state-level estimates.
Selected households will be invited throughout the year to participate in the study via invitation letters, postcards, emails, and text messages. Those who receive an invitation are encouraged to participate to have their voice heard.
Boaters also have a chance to sign-up to be randomly selected to receive a survey throughout the year. To sign-up, please visit this link and fill out the short registration form.
Participating will help the United States Coast Guard keep our rivers, oceans, and other waterways safe. Respondent information will be held in the strictest confidence and will be grouped to produce statistical summaries.
The U.S. Coast Guard is the national coordinator for the National Recreational Boating Safety Program, established by the Federal Boat Safety Act of 1971. This foundational act empowers the Coast Guard to enhance safety on our nation’s waterways by setting standards for boat construction, improving accident investigations and reporting, and providing crucial financial assistance to programs in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and six U.S. territories. Through the Coast Guard Office of Auxiliary and Boating Safety, the Recreational Boating Safety Program remains a cornerstone of our commitment to ensuring a safe and enjoyable experience for all recreational boaters. The National Recreational Boating Safety Program estimates 95,000 lives have been saved since the Program’s inception. The most recent year of information recorded the fewest deaths in the Program’s history.
For more information about the NRBSS, visit https://uscgboating.org/
recreational-boating-safety-
For further assistance or questions, contact onthewater@norc.org or SMB-COMDT-CG-
BSX-Data@uscg.mil.
