In California, at least, that's not strictly true. They get paid quite handsomely ($400–500k as of a decade ago) to avoid hitting stuff in specific waterways around the Bay Area.
There used to be two really tall redwoods in the beast bay that were used as Navigation Trees to avoid a submerged rock in SF bay, that later had to be blown up after the trees were felled.
I put in the quotes because the person asking the question picked the exact phrasing, which as we both pointed out isn't correct. They're just pilots. The normal crew driving the boat are crew, not pilots.
https://sfbarpilots.com
One had a nasty pill habit and crashed an oil tanker under his purview into the Bay Bridge.
https://www.justice.gov/opa/pr/guilty-plea-case-cosco-busan-...