Just most socialist micromanagement for the purpose of extorting more money from people. I boat in states with and without this requirement. My home state that requires boaters to pass a test seems to be worse so far as general safety and practices of boaters, and there is a much greater police/ranger/CG presence. The only thing I've seen that even approaches a typical summer weekend on the river at home is being on the biggest most popular lake in the non testing state on a holiday weekend... And that still isn't as bad.
Probably more to do with my home area having essentially only one large usable waterway (gas engines are illegal on almost all NJ lakes) and the other state being much more free in general, with many lakes and ponds and very few having restrictions, lower cost (free ramps, less towing distance) and generally fewer barriers to entry. My guess is more people have boats and more people are exposed to boating growing up. It can be a circus sometimes but it's not quite on the level of the river at home.
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