One more interesting note...

The Sport Fish Restoration Act of 1950 (Wallop Breaux Act) gets its funding from taxes paid on gas.

A formula is used and a certain percentage of all gas tax is attributed to boat gas, and that money goes into the Wallup fund which is divided up to the states.

Now, if your state gets non-motorized boats to register, they get more money. However, non-motorized boats of course dont use gas, so the 7 states that require registration of non-motorized vessels are actually getting an unfair proportion of the fund compared to what they are putting in in gas tax.

A suggestion has been floated to clarify the Wallop Breaux Act so that non-motorized vessels dont count, which would lessen the push for registration.