The Coast Guard Office of Standards and Evaluations is responsible for promulgating regulations which are data-driven and evidence-based. The Coast Guard queries on several data sources, namely the Marine Investigation Safety and Law Enforcement (MISLE), to better understand the population of vessels that operate on U.S. waterways. The following information is a graphical representation of the number of vessels by primary service classification of the vessel that were active and operating on U.S. navigable waters. When you explore our geospatial dashboards, please be aware that we only display information on investigations that have been concluded. Therefore, if you notice the absence of some high-profile incidents, it likely means that these are still under active investigation by the Coast Guard.
In our 'Interactive Applications for Vessels Active on U.S. Waterways,' we have only included vessels for which we have complete identification details—like the vessel's name, ID numbers, operating routes, and dimensions. The data showcased on these dashboards offers a visual count of vessels, organized by their primary service classification, that were active in U.S. navigable waters. You can access and download this data through the 'Files of Vessels Operating on U.S. Waters by Vessel Class' link for further analysis.