Does the growing girth of Americans pose a risk to passenger vessels?

The U.S. Coast Guard apparently thinks so, as it's planning to reduce the number of people it'll allow on ferries, sightseeing boats and other small passenger vessels operating in U.S. waters to compensate for the extra pounds Americans have been packing on in recent years.

The Coast Guards plan to reset the average weight per person used to calculate maximum occupancy for American-flagged passenger vessels to 185 pounds. Since the early 1960s, the average weight used in the calculation has been 160 pounds.

Under the new rules, a vessel rated for 16,000 pounds that until now has been allowed to carry 100 passengers would have its maximum occupancy cut to 86 people. The change will take effect Dec. 1.

According to a Coast Guard official the  concern is the risk to small commercial boats capsizing if too many heavy passengers move to one side of the vessel.