Issue link: https://read.dmtmag.com/i/556112
May 2015 | Boating Industry | 13 www.BoatingIndustry.com Boating Industry: In your opinion, what are potential obstacles to continued growth this year for the industry? SPECIALE: I do not see a lot of obstacles to growth this year, other than weather or localized economic challenges. Dealers who provide a stepped-up level of service for their existing customers and have good knowledge of product features and benefi ts should see positive growth. Boating Industry: Yamaha has always been very involved in government and regulatory issues. Why is that important to the company? SPECIALE: In your earlier question, you asked about obstacles to growth for this year. An ob- stacle to growth for the next fi ve to 20 years is regulation and the unanticipated results of legislation. We manage that by being involved in government and regulatory issues now. Our reasoning is pretty simple: if we don't partici- pate in the political process, we will slowly but surely lose our industry. Legislators need to know about our marine issues. We all have to engage to protect our wonderful industry. Boating Industry: What are some of the key issues you're focused on this year? SPECIALE: Seventy percent of those who boat also fi sh. That statistic is important and everyone should understand it. If our custom- ers can't fi sh, they won't be buying many boats. Therefore, fi sheries issues are at the top of our legislative agenda, particularly the reauthoriza- tion of the Magnuson-Stevens Act. Another issue that affects us is ethanol. We need to win the battle to cap ethanol at 10 per- cent. All 10 million marine motors currently in use will be damaged by E15. We can't let E15 become the predominate fuel. Finally, we made great progress as an indus- try working together on current engine emis- sion regulations. We need to be sure future emission regulations are sensible and logical. These are the major issues. More impor- tant is that we need to make sure others in the marine industry get involved. That's why we developed Yamaha Marine Advocacy, a system that allows our dealers and boat build- ers to send e-mails to their elected offi cials making them aware of the industry's position on these issues. "An obstacle to growth for the next fi ve to 20 years is regulation and the unanticipated results of legislation. … [I]f we don't participate in the political process, we will slowly but surely lose our industry."