Research, Studies and Reports

Personal Watercraft

Articles that are listed but not available through this site can be requested via email.

Fact Sheets

• Hostile Waters fact sheet
• Fact Sheet from the California Air Resources Board

Comprehensive Reports

• Hostile Waters: The Impacts of Personal Watercraft Use on Waterway Recreation, American Canoe Association, 2002.
• Personal Watercraft Use in the San Juan Islands, Aquatic Resources Conservation Group, 1998.

Noise Impacts

• Drowning in Noise: Noise Costs of Jet Skis in America, Noise Pollution Clearinghouse, 2000. Available here.
• Aesthetic, Affective and Cognitive Effects of Noise on Natural Landscape Assessment, Society & Natural Resources, 1999.

Air and Water Pollution

• Airborne Particle Emissions form 2- and 4-Stroke Outboard Marine Engines, Environmental Science & Technology, 2000.
• Outboard Engine and Personal Watercraft Emissions to Air and Water: A Laboratory Study, California Air Resources Board, 2001.
• Emissions from Marine Engines with Water Contact in the Exhaust Stream, Society of Automotive Engineers, 1998.
• Water Quality Concerns Related to Personal Watercraft Usage, National Park Service Water Resources Division, 1999.
• Changes in MTBE and BTEX Concentrations in Lake Tahoe, CA-NV Following Implementation of a Ban on Selected 2-Stroke Marine Engines, University of California, Davis, 2000.
• Interim Report on the Lake Tahoe Motorized Watercraft Study, University of Nevada, Reno, 1998.

Impacts to Wildlife

• Short-Term Effects of Boat Traffic on Bottlenose Dolphins, Tursiops truncatus, in Sarasota Bay, Florida, Marine Mammal Science, 2001.
• A Review of Personal Watercraft and Their Potential Impact on the Natural Resources of Everglades National Park, National Park Service, 1988.
• Investigation of the Biological Effects of 2-Cycle Outboard Engines' Exhaust on Fish, Marine Environmental Research, 1995.
• Further Studies of the Effects of Exhaust from Two-Stroke Outboard Motors on Fish, Marine Environmental Research, 1996.
• Effects of Outboard Motor Emissions on Early Development of the Killifish Oryzias latipes, Northwest Science, 1999.
• Personal Watercraft: Emerging Science: A letter of testimony to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, Audubon Canyon Ranch, 1997.
• Effects of Motorboats and Personal Watercraft on Flight Behavior over a Colony of Common Terns, The Condor, 1998.
• Toxicity of ambient levels of motorized watercraft emissions to fish and zooplankton in Lake Tahoe, California/Nevada, USA, 1998.

Regulations and Ordinances

• U.S. Coast Guard definition of Personal Watercraft
• List of Personal Watercraft Regulations
• An ordinance banning personal watercraft in Marin County, California
• An ordinance regulating personal watercraft in San Juan County, Washington
• Regulation of the Operation of Motorized Personal Watercraft in the Gulf of the Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, 2001. Available here.
• Determiniation of Appropriateness of Personal Watercraft Use at Gulf Islands National Seashore, National Park Service, 2001.
• The Sounds of Silence: Trends in the Regulation of Personal Watercraft, Lake and Reservoir Management, 2003.

Safety

• Personal Watercraft Safety Study, National Transportation Safety Board, 1998.
• Small Watercraft Injuries in Children, The American Surgeon, 2002.