Cite as: 537 U. S. 51 (2002)
Opinion of the Court
at the request of the Coast Guard, the National Boating Safety Advisory Council appointed a special Propeller Guard Subcommittee. The subcommittee was directed to review "the available data on the prevention of propeller-strike accidents" and to study the "various methods of shrouding propellers to prevent contact with [a] person in the water." App. 43.
After 18 months of study, the subcommittee recommended that the Coast Guard "should take no regulatory action to require propeller guards." Id., at 40. Its recommendation rested upon findings that, given current technology, feasible propeller guards might prevent penetrating injuries but increase the potential for blunt trauma caused by collision with the guard, which enlarges the boat's underwater profile; feasible models would cause power and speed loss at higher speeds; and it would be "prohibitive[ly]" expensive to retrofit all existing boats with propeller guards because "[n]o simple universal design suitable for all boats and motors in existence" had been proved feasible. Id., at 36-38.
The Advisory Council endorsed the subcommittee's recommendation, as did the Coast Guard. In a 1990 letter to the Council, the Chief of the Coast Guard's Office of Navigation Safety and Waterway Services agreed that the available accident data did not support the adoption of a regulation requiring propeller guards on motorboats, but stated that the Coast Guard would continue to review information "regarding development and testing of new propeller guarding devices or other information on the state of the art." Id., at 81. In 1995, 1996, and 1997, the Coast Guard invited public comment on various proposals to reduce the number of injuries involving propeller strikes.
In April 2001, the Advisory Council recommended that the Coast Guard develop four specific regulations. See 66 Fed.
"the true number of propeller injuries and fatalities may be closer to . . . 2,000-3,000 per year." Id., at 199.
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