Obesity: Big bellies sink ships?

Our expanding waistlines might not yet sink our whale-watching boats, but the downside of rising obesity rates apparently doesn’t end at the water’s edge. In a regulatory sign of the times, ferries, sightseeing boats, and other commercial passenger vessels enter the new year under new Coast Guard rules that calculate their capacity based on an average passenger weight of 185 pounds. The standard had been 160 pounds since the 1960s. Companies have a choice of cutting capacity or proving to the Coast Guard that their boats can handle the extra poundage. In Boston, Mike Glasfeld, manager of Bay State Cruises, said he does not anticipate any immediate effect, saying none of the dozens of operators he talks with are preparing to slash capacities. But should the nation’s obesity rate worsen even more, the day might come where a fisherman misses out on a charter or a family misses out on a whale watch because too many of us look like, well . . . you know. Let’s consider it a warning from the Coast Guard: If Americans want to keep shipping out, we ought to shape up.