Checked with the chater company our boat is in - state of Washington - diesel is $5.25 at the dock and rising daily. Number of bookings dropping off or being cancelled.
One of their competitors had closed their doors....no money from charter income this year.....
It is powered by a 350 Chevy and a brand new Alpha 1 Merc. outdrive. I run it all day long, downrigging for trophy Walleyes for about 30 dollars a day, figuring fuel at $4.00.
I have the trailer rigged to pull it out of the water every time I use it and I store it in a special building I built to house it. I installed fuel injection and I can run oxygenated fuel at the cheapest price.
In other words, there are ways of adjusting to things like this, and there are fewer large boats on the water these days, but the smaller ones, who people are flocking to, have become way too expensive to buy, and they don't use less fuel like they think they do. Most of all, when the wind picks up, I can keep fishing and there are a surprising number of small boats that follow me in to the dock after I break the waves for them. I would not trade that extra security for all the gas in China!