July 1, 2025

Boating collisions are the leading cause of boating accidents, according to the U.S. Coast Guard’s most recent data. In the U.S., more than half of the boating accidents and injuries recorded in 2023 were due to a collision — and almost a quarter of all boating deaths involved a collision.

The numbers illustrate the importance of situational awareness on the water. Garmin AIS technology™ can help provide valuable peace of mind and help boaters steer clear of nearby safety hazards and other vessels.

What is AIS?

AIS serves a couple of purposes. Its main function is to help prevent collisions on the water. As a byproduct, it’s also able to function as a navigation support system. Boaters are made aware of live marine traffic so they can track other vessels and plan their routes accordingly.

Boats equipped with a Garmin VHF 215 marine radio with built-in AIS are able to receive information equipped with the ID, position, course and speed of other vessels. If you’ve landed on a Garmin Cortex® V1, Cortex M1 or AIS 800 blackbox, you’ll be able to receive and transmit your own data with other AIS-equipped vessels. You’ll also be able to receive additional alerts, including dragging anchors and man overboard situations, with the Garmin Cortex lineup.

With constant updates, you can rest assured you’re getting the latest information.

Protecting Wildlife

In an industry-wide effort to protect marine life, Garmin has collaborated with the Whale and Vessel Safety Taskforce to create a feature on Garmin AIS devices to detect North Atlantic right whale seasonal and dynamic management areas. So when you navigate close to where a whale is typically spotted, or any AIS marked floating object, your Garmin AIS device will send an alert to your compatible chartplotter, giving you time to adjust your route.

If you prefer quick notifications from your phone or computer, the floating object detection feature is also available with the ActiveCaptain® app and with a Garmin Express™ account.

Protect Your Vessel

You should always be alert so you can be better prepared in close-call situations. AIS alerts are a vital addition to your situational awareness toolkit.

If you notice the potential for collision with another vessel, you can initiate digital selective calling on a Garmin VHF radio to let the other vessel know your intentions. To get ahold of AIS-equipped captains, you can do so quickly by choosing from a directory of nearby AIS-equipped vessels or saved “buddy” vessels.

You can also view alerts on your compatible chartplotter or MFD using NMEA 2000® networking capability. A more-distant vessel or one trending away will become smaller and gray on the display. A vessel close and trending toward your path will become highlighted in yellow. Any vessel at a range, direction or speed that presents a potential collision risk will trigger an alarm, become highlighted in red and pinned on the handset, allowing you to see more detail on the target or take action to call the other vessel.

AIS technology is designed to help you and those around you have peace of mind. By equipping your boat with a VHF radio with built-in AIS or a dedicated AIS transceiver, Garmin can help get you to your destination.  

_{NMEA 2000® is a registered trademark of the National Marine Electronics Association.}