Trust & Safety

Listings are initially sourced from publicly available business information. Captains can claim and verify their listings to gain editing access and Pro/Featured tier benefits.

Federal law requires US commercial charter captains to hold a USCG (United States Coast Guard) Operator of Uninspected Passenger Vessels license — also called an OUPV or “six-pack” license. That’s a baseline requirement enforced by federal authority, not something Unreel grants or revokes.

When you book a charter, the captain you’re paying should be USCG-licensed; if you’re unsure, you can ask them to confirm their license number. We back this with checks against official records: we verify captains’ USCG credentials with the National Maritime Center (rolling out now), match vessels against U.S. Coast Guard records to earn a Verified Vessel badge (live and expanding), and check state licensing where a state publishes its roster (currently a handful of states). For a full breakdown of what each badge means and what it doesn’t promise, see how we verify.

If you see a listing that looks suspicious — outdated info, a dead website, unverified claims, or anything that feels wrong — let us know via our contact page. We review reports within 5 business days. If a captain is unresponsive to multiple anglers, we’ll flag the listing as inactive.

We collect minimal information — only what’s needed to connect you with captains. We don’t sell your data to third parties. For details, see our Privacy Policy.

Captains who claim listings agree to our terms of service. We can suspend accounts that violate those terms (false claims of licensure, scam listings, repeated complaints from anglers).