If you’re booking a day on the water to fish or watch whales, there’s a lot you can check about the boat and its operator first — and much of it takes only a few minutes.

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The rules are federal and public, just not always easy to find or written in plain language.

A boat you take out for fun is governed by one set of rules, while a boat carrying paying passengers must follow stricter ones. Knowing the difference is key to what you should check before you step aboard.

How charter vessels are regulated has come under scrutiny after a boat operated by Top Vancouver Fishing Charter sank in Georgia Strait on June 28. Six people are presumed drowned and one of four survivors died later in hospital. Several agencies, including the RCMP and the Transportation Safety Board of Canada, are investigating.

Transport Canada this week ordered the detention of the company’s other boat docked along Steveston Harbour. The order alleges a pleasure craft was being run as a commercial passenger vessel, without proper registration and markings.

The gap between recreational and commercial boating is a known problem, said Bruce Hayne, executive director of the Boating B.C. Association, who said it comes up regularly in the association’s talks with Transport Canada.

Hayne said “it’s really incumbent upon the people that are chartering the vessel” to check the operator and safety gear themselves, he said.

Here’s what to know:

Does a fishing or whale-watching charter need a special licence?

Yes, running one has a higher bar than taking your own boat out for fun.

Under Transport Canada’s rules, what matters isn’t the boat but how it’s used. The moment an operator makes money off the people aboard, they count as passengers, not guests, and it counts as a commercial operation — even if it’s the same boat you could use privately.

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A pleasure-craft licence, Transport Canada’s guide states, “is not acceptable for a commercial vessel.”

What the captain needs depends on the boat. A basic pleasure craft operator card — the card a weekend boater has — only lets someone carry up to six passengers, on a boat no longer than eight metres, and in sheltered waters, a Transport Canada spokesperson said. Beyond that, the operator needs commercial certification, which varies with the vessel’s size, how it’s used and how far out it goes.

A recreational fishing licence doesn’t count.

How do you know an operator is legit?

Ask questions before you pay, a Transport Canada spokesperson said.

Passengers can ask whether the vessel is inspected by Transport Canada or takes part in the voluntary small vessel compliance program, and can ask for its compliance decal number or its registration number.

If an operator can’t provide any of that, treat it as a reason to hold off.

Cutting corners often goes beyond paperwork, Hayne said. An operator may also skip the insurance that would give passengers recourse if something goes wrong. He points to a common trap: someone advertises a trip to watch the fireworks, meets you at a dock and takes you out.

“It all sounds great,” Hayne said, but that doesn’t mean they’re qualified, or legally allowed, to carry you.

Do charter boats need life-jackets and should you wear one?

Yes. Transport Canada requires an approved life-jacket of the right size for every person aboard. Hayne’s advice: wear it.

“Things can happen so quickly,” he said. Once an emergency starts, “there simply is not a time then to go hunting for life-jackets and put them on.”

The risk is worse in cold water, he said, where hypothermia sets in fast and cuts survival chances sharply, even for strong swimmers.

What do the numbers on the side of a boat mean?

Quite a bit, once you know what to look for.

A registered commercial vessel’s number either starts with a ‘C’ and ends in a province abbreviation, like C12345BC, or is a six-digit number. A number that starts with a province abbreviation — like ON4321AA — is the warning sign: a Transport Canada spokesperson said those are issued only to pleasure craft, and such a boat “may not meet the regulatory requirements applicable to the carriage of passengers.”

In other words, be cautious about booking a trip on a boat marked that way.

The markings have set rules. A commercial vessel whose number starts with ‘C’ must show that number on each side of the bow; a vessel with a six-digit number must display its registered name on both sides of the bow and on the stern. You can look the boat up yourself in Transport Canada’s vessel registration query system before boarding.

How do you check a company’s safety record?

Transport Canada posts its enforcement history online, in its administrative enforcement action summaries. You can search by year for a company’s name and see any violations, the penalty and a short description.

Two caveats: it lists only formal penalties, not every warning, and a new company may have no record at all, which isn’t the same as a clean one.

What should happen before the boat leaves the dock?

You should get a safety briefing.

A Transport Canada spokesperson said the crew’s pre-departure briefing should cover where the life-jackets are, how to use them and other onboard safety measures — and that if no briefing is given, passengers should ask the crew about it right away.

oshtohryn@postmedia.com