One of Bayou Boogaloo’s fine components, the Mid-City Songfest from May 17 to 19, is the picturesque fleet of canoes, kayaks, inflatable rafts, and domestic-built watercraft that bobs in Bayou St. John. For the first time this year, a kingdom legit might be at the fest to assist in ensuring boat safety. The Boogaloo management positioned it in a press assertion: “In 2019, the State’s Wildlife and Fisheries Department will patrol Bayou St. John to make certain human beings in boats and rafts are wearing life jackets and following different boating suggestions.”
Bayou Boogaloo manufacturer Jared Zeller said that he contacted state agencies to decide which branch might modify Bayou St. John boating and observed that the Wildlife and Fisheries Department was the right authority. He stated that one official would attend the festival daily to teach and advise boaters and swimmers.
“If they see something hazardous, they will take motion,” Zeller said, although he wasn’t certain what motion might be taken.
Asked for the specific safety measures that could be practiced in Bayou Boogaloo, a Louisiana Wildlife and Fisheries representative wrote:
“The felony necessities are that you have to have, at a minimum, one right-fitting U.S. Coast Guard authorized personal flotation device for everyone on board each vessel. If you are 16 or younger, you must wear a properly fitting USCG-accepted personal flotation tool while underway. You must have a sober operator for any motorized vessel.”
The Wildlife and Fisheries representative no longer noticed the department’s enforcement policies. Based on a survey of photos and the video beneath, personal floatation devices have no longer been in common use beyond Bayou Boogaloos, and motorized vessels have been rare.
The Bayou Boogaloo control also emphasizes the need for boaters to abandon their craft by giving up the pageant. “In quick,” their press advisory reads, “anyone who uses the bayou and its outer banks should ease up after themselves.”
