Please be respectful of others. No one knows it all.
I am a commercially certified Skipper (MNZ SCO and Yachtmaster <24m, + RYA 200 ton commercially rated) and I completely reject compulsory licensing. It does not work. Has not is Ausy, for example, except as a revenue gathering operation. Those who want to be responsible skippers will learn. Those who really should learn won't get licensed anyway..., and the costs of recreation boating, already high, will go up still more for no benefit.