Sign of the times?

Obesity rise prompts Wash. ferries capacity change

By DOUG ESSER

SEATTLE (AP) — The Washington state ferry service isn't going to start turning away hefty passengers, but it has had to reduce the capacity of the nation's largest ferry system because people have been packing on the pounds.

Coast Guard vessel stability rules that took effect nationwide Dec. 1 raised the estimated weight of the average adult passenger to 185 pounds from the previous 160 pounds, based on population information from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

During the past 20 years, there has been a dramatic increase in obesity in the United States and about one-third of American adults are now considered obese, the CDC says on its website.

The state ferry system has complied with the new stability rules by simply reducing the listed capacity of its vessels, Coast Guard Lt. Eric Young said Wednesday.

"That has effectively reduced the amount of passengers by about 250 passengers or so depending on the particular ferry," said Young, who is based in Seattle. "They generally carry about 2,000, so it's down to 1,750 now."

With that many passengers, the ferry wouldn't tip over even if everyone ran to the side at the same time to look at a pod of killer whales, he said.
The state operates 23 white and green vessels on 10 routes across Puget Sound and through the San Juan Islands to British Columbia. Carrying more than 22 million passengers a year, it's the biggest ferry system in the United States and one of the four largest in the world, Coursey said.

The ferries themselves could be contributing to passenger girth. The galleys cater to customers looking for fast food they can eat while looking out the windows at the scenery and seagulls. Calorie counters typically aren't buying the hamburgers, hot dogs and chicken strips.

"We do serve light beer," said Peggy Wilkes who has worked 20 years for the food concessionaire, Olympic Cascade Services, which serves food and drinks on 12 of the state ferries.
News reports of overloaded ferries sinking in other parts of the world are sometimes a topic of discussion, she said.

"I think it's cool the Coast Guard is keeping up on that," she said. "Not that we overload them. A couple of times, like for a Seahawks game, we've had to cut off passengers and had to leave them at the dock."

Carol Johnston, who has been riding the state ferries since 1972, said she found the rule change perplexing.

"The ferries are not listing, they are not sinking," said Johnston, who was onboard a Seattle-bound ferry from Bainbridge Island Wednesday afternoon. "How are you going to establish how much weight there is on the ferry?"

Johnston worried about the potential loss in revenue, which could cause ferry fares to increase further. And she joked she may alter her eating habits.

"That means I will not have popcorn with my wine," Johnston said.

The reduced passenger capacity is unlikely to have much practical effect on the spacious ferries, system spokeswoman Marta Coursey said. The ferries often fill up with vehicles, but the number of passengers, especially walk-ons is seldom a problem, she said.

The new stability rules may have a bigger impact on the smaller charter fishing boats, such as those that take anglers fishing out of the Pacific Ocean ports of Westport and Ilwaco, Young said. Any vessel that carries more than six paying customers has to be inspected and certified by the Coast Guard as a passenger vessel.

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This article, while trying to be funny at times, breaks my heart.  It's very very sad to see that statistic - 1/3 of all Americans are now considered obese.  I've also heard that 60% of Americans are at least considered overweight, but not necessarily obese. 
Being overweight is not a disease, yet I hear a lot of complaints from overweight people about how things are so much harder for them to do because no one considers their needs.  Things like chairs at restaurants or movie theater seats.  Seats in airplanes are too small or they are required to buy two seats.  What bothers me about this is that the overweight use "complaints" like these as an excuse that it's ok to be overweight.  It's not.  That somehow people should treat them as if they have an incurable disease like cancer or AIDS.  That somehow people should feel bad for them and make special concessions.  That it's not the overweight person's fault that they are overweight, like it's out of their control just like getting cancer. 

It's extremely unhealthy to be so overweight, and dangerous to organs like the heart, liver, brain, and various other body parts - things like joints.  The reason that engineers and designers who create things like standards for seats in theaters or planes don't make them big enough for big people, is because that has not been the standard size of a human adult since the beginning of humanity, nor should it be accepted now as standard.  The human body is not meant to carry an extra 200 pounds and up on our tiny skeleton frames.  The standards should continue to be what they are and the weight limits of elevators, escalators should continue to be what they have been in the past.  Theater and airplane seats should not get bigger because all it will do for the overweight is enable them further to continue to eat way more than they should and not be physically active.  It's another example of why I feel ashamed of being American.  Look at some third world countries where children are dying from starvation.  There simply isn't enough food to go around there and then look at us.  We have so much food that we have a term like morbidly obese where someone is 500 pounds or more overweight and cannot, simply is not physically able to get out of their own bed, cannot bathe themselves, can't use a normal sized toilet, can't walk at all.....It's just so embarrassing.  And the morbidly obese is not so isolated an event anymore.  It is getting more and more frequent and it's just so sad and shameful. 

As someone who has had weight issues myself (I'm about 35 pounds overweight currently), I can understand that getting to the gym is not always convenient.  It's not easy to get started, but I've lost 35 pounds just by eating less and healthier, plus going to the gym 5-6 days every week of every month of every year.  It becomes routine.  You feel better about yourself when you can fit into clothes you never thought you could.  You have to give your old bigger clothes away.  People compliment you all the time.  You feel sexier, healthier, more confident.  You sleep better, you reduce your risk of heart attack, stroke, cancer, diabetes, improve your immune system, and you think, man, I should've felt like this a long time ago.  Why'd I wait so long to get started?  It's awesome and nothing else feels as good as that.