There are 2 magic numbers for passenger capacity on Charter boats in Canada. 6 and 12. As we discussed in another video, any commercial vessel, including passenger, will have registration numbers starting with C. Easy breezy.
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After that the vessel has 3 other requirements for the crew. 1. At least 1 crew member on board needs to have a valid First Aid/CPR certificate. 2. All crew members must have a Marine Emergency Duties Certificate, and 3. A vessel operating licence of some sort. For 6 passengers or less, your Captain can make due with Canada’s good ol’ Pleasure Craft operating Card, or PCOC for short…very easy to get. Anyone over the age 13 on the water probably already has one.
For 6 to 12 passengers, your Captain needs a Small Vessel Operator Proficiency certificate or SVOP for short. This is a much more involved license to get over the PCOC. Now…if you see a Charter Boat listing a Capacity of over 12 passengers in Canada…you need to go full stop for 2 reasons. First, the Captain will need a Limited 60 tonne license or higher…not easy to get and not too many people have this…but also, any boat originally built for pleasure use, like the yacht or boat you probably want to charter, is extremely difficult or impossible to certify for use over 12 passengers…so ask if they have the nessecary registration and certification…and check them closely!
