The purpose of the state recreational boating safety program is to encourage greater state participation and uniformity in boating safety efforts, and particularly to permit the states to assume the…

The U.S. Coast Guard awarded the Department of Search and Rescue $773,117 under the Boating Safety Financial Assistance program (CFDA 97.012) on October 1, 2025. The award funds boating safety education, law enforcement training, public safety education programs, emergency and search and rescue facility establishment and maintenance, waterway markers, marine casualty investigations, and vessel numbering and titling programs. The Department of Search and Rescue, a U.S. government entity based in Pago Pago, Eastern District, American Samoa, serves as the recipient. The period of performance runs through September 30, 2028, with place of performance across the United States. This is a Formula Grant, an assistance type available only to designated state agencies for recreational boating safety efforts.

The purpose of the state recreational boating safety program is to encourage greater state participation and uniformity in boating safety efforts, and particularly to permit the states to assume the greater share of boating safety education, assistance, and enforcement activities. Federal funds provided for a state's boating safety program may be used for any of the following expenses. 1. Providing facilities, equipment, and supplies for boating safety education and law enforcement, including purchase, operation, maintenance, and repair. 2. Training personnel in skills related to boating safety and to the enforcement of boating safety laws and regulations. 3. Providing public boating safety education, including educational programs and lectures, to the boating community and the public school system. 4. Acquiring, constructing, or repairing public access sites used primarily by recreational boaters. 5. Conducting boating safety inspections and marine casualty investigations. 6. Establishing and maintaining emergency or search and rescue facilities, and providing emergency or search and rescue assistance. 7. Establishing and maintaining waterway markers and other appropriate aids to navigation. 8. Providing state recreational vessel numbering and titling programs.