This video shows surfer Ken Collins lashing out at NOAA enforcement officers at Mavericks.
Officers from this federal agency filming the movie "Of Men and Mavericks" and two other surfers last year who were practicing for Mavericks at Moss Landing.
While boats with the exact engines are allowed, jet skis are forbidden, despite no scientific evidence in NOAA's filings that prove the skis are dangerous to marine mammals.
That is one of the grounds surfers are fighting the agency over.
Just for choosing to fight the fine in court, , and threatened the possibility of raising it as high as $120,000.
Movie star Gerard Butler was held down by a wave and had to be rescued at Maverick's during the movie's filming.
The NOAA regulations might seem ridiculous to some, but they are Federal law. The guy is just trying to do his job. The NOAA officer should be applauded for keeping his cool.
That is not to say he is wrong; I don't know that he is, but the way he went about it sure was. I am one of those that likes the Mavericks contest. I am also one that believes that PWC's have a very important role in that competition. I don't want to see the ocean screwed up any more than the surfers do, and I do not believe (even for a second) that the use of PWC's during the Mavericks event plays any role in harming nature; but I believe that PWC's play an important role in the safety of and the competition itself. Maybe, and I can't/won't speak for Mr Collins, the frustration of this specific issue has over-lapped the breaking point. It has been an issue for years now and I can see where those effected might just be more than a little frustrated. All that said, however, Collins didn't need to be such a rube and the NOAA guys carried themselves very well.
I understand the frustration completely but the defensiveness was hard to watch. There comes at time when you've dealt with these agencies so many times and the workers repeat the same thing over and over, that you just loose it. I think there should be some common sense here, that a jet ski can be considered a rescue vehicle like a fire truck or ambulance. Yes, maybe the surfers taking these risks are forcing themselves to be rescued just like drivers who drive too fast or drive drunk. We still rescue them. I think boats are probably a bigger problem, but you'd have to stop fishing or cruising the bay. There has to be a balance for fishing, surfing and enjoying the bay without destroying the environment completely. If I were to be extreme then I would say nobody goes in the ocean in any capacity but that's not realistic. Maybe the jet ski companies could make a quieter engine because what concerns me is the noise pollution.