I suppose it was inevitable. The problem with implementing fines is that people who may truly need help may wait too long to ask for it. Truly objective standards may be hard to draft since there are so many creative and unpredictable ways people find to get into trouble.

The Coast Guard used to get many calls that were not emergencies, such as boaters out of gas, or who suffered mechanical failure because of poor maintenance. We would usually provide a tow to the nearest marina, but the calls in some jurisdictions outnumbered the true emergency calls.

Then they instituted a policy of not providing assistance unless people or property were in real danger, otherwise we would advise the boater to call a local tow service. It eventually reduced the number of non emergency calls, but it took a long time for the boating public to get accustomed to the new policy, and in the meantime there was still the expense of responding to every call.