by Chris Jones ·
Friday, March 13, 2026
The Hanson-Milone Safe Boating Act, signed into law by Gov. Healey January 2025, requires any Massachusetts resident who plans to operate an inboard, motorized vessel on a state body of water this year to earn a boating safety certificate by taking a mandatory 12-hour course and passing a subsequent test.
As a result, any Massachusetts resident who is 38 years old or younger needs certification by April 1 in order to boat on the pond this summer, and by 2028, every boater in Massachusetts needs to be certified. Lifeguards, police officers, and firefighters also have to complete the course and the certification.
Although the Massachusetts Environmental Police (MEP) will offer the boating course three times at the Harvard Senior Center next week, every session is booked. Instead people can register online at the MEP website for the same course at other venues. There is also an online version, and the MEP welcomes entire families to participate in the safety course whether it’s online or in person.
According to Bare Hill Pond harbormaster Ben Baron, most states in New England already have mandatory boating safety courses and licensing requirements in place, and Massachusetts is a little late to the game: “It’s funny, I’ve had my New Hampshire boating license for something like 25 years, and generally, Massachusetts is all about rules … it doesn’t quite make sense.”
The Hanson-Milone Safe Boating Act was introduced in 2010, but it didn’t become law until Jan. 8, 2025. The act is named after David Hanson and Paul Milone. Hanson, a 20-year-old Kingston native, died tragically on the water while fishing in 2010, and Paul Milone, the late harbormaster from Weymouth, dedicated his life to boating safety education.
Regardless of timing, Baron believes the new law and the new requirements will help boating activity on the pond: “We did have some boater safety challenges last year with people going in the wrong direction and some tubers pulling their kids in an unsafe manner, so we’re stepping up an awareness of the rules.” When asked if last year was an anomaly, Baron quickly confirmed that problems involving safety occur every year on the pond.
Edward Moussouris of Park Lane, who boats on the pond all summer and has a Merchant Marine Captain’s license, subscribes to Baron’s thinking. “When I heard the course was mandatory, I thought, that’s a good thing because you have young kids just bombing around the lake … but if they take the course they think, ‘oh yeah I should probably be careful about that.’ It’s just safer.” Moussouris doesn’t need to get the boat safety certification because his Master Captain’s license supersedes it; however, he wants his wife and children to invest in the course. He added, “Every now and then you get someone out there who is not following the rules and being reckless, and a course like this will really help.”
In addition to the new mandates, Harvard’s environmental police officer Kenneth Gormley will assume an increased presence on the pond this summer. According to Baron, “This is a part of the state ramping up safety on all bodies of water through the Environmental Police.” Gormley did issue warnings last year to a number of boaters about life jackets and proper boat lights that need to be visible at night. At present, boaters under the age of 12 must wear life jackets while boating on a Massachusetts waterway.
Danielle Burney of the Executive Office of Energy and Environmental Affairs (EEA) believes that all Massachusetts boaters need to make safety a priority: “Small decisions on the water can have big consequences.” She emphasized that the new law is about education and safety; it’s good when people are informed about the rules. As the EEA website suggests, “[The new law] empowers boaters with the knowledge they need to navigate Massachusetts’ vast and beautiful waterways with confidence.”