{"id":27399,"date":"2019-05-06T11:13:28","date_gmt":"2019-05-06T15:13:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=27399"},"modified":"2019-05-06T16:19:54","modified_gmt":"2019-05-06T20:19:54","slug":"secretarys-message-may-2019","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2019\/05\/06\/secretarys-message-may-2019\/","title":{"rendered":"Secretary&#8217;s Message: May 2019"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Boating Safety is a Way of Life in Maryland<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"alignright \" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/7912\/46193085924_bb2e62c963.jpg\" alt=\"Photo of Secretary Riccio\" width=\"350\" height=\"462\" \/>As an avid boater, I am very appreciative that Maryland\u2019s boating season is (<\/span><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">finally<\/span><\/i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">) underway. And as the daughter of a boat builder and the wife of a former merchant marine, the importance of boater safety has been instilled in me throughout my life. \u00a0I want to encourage others to make it a way of life too &#8211; not just during the month of May, which is Boating Safety Month, but every day. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Maryland is one of the nation\u2019s leading destinations for water recreation, which is a point of pride, but with that comes a huge responsibility. In 2018, Maryland reported 132 boating accidents. Tragically, 16 of those were fatalities &#8212; a 167 percent increase from the previous year. <\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">There are a few boater safety tips that stand out above all others and that would help us reduce those statistics in Maryland:<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Wear your life jacket and have an appropriate number of life jackets available for passengers on your vessel. \u00a0State law requires that they be worn by anyone under the age of 13 on boats less than 21 feet in length at all times while underway. According to the U.S. Coast Guard, 90 percent of drowning victims in last year\u2019s recreational boating accidents were not wearing a life jacket. \u00a0It is also important to ensure that life jackets fit properly in order to function properly. <\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Get certified and know the rules of navigation. Anyone born on or after July 1, 1972 must have a boater safety certificate in their possession while operating a numbered or documented vessel on Maryland waters. Natural Resources Police and partner organizations offer <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/nrp\/Pages\/BoatingSafety\/Educational-Requirement.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">boating safety courses<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\"> that provide this legally required certification. \u00a0I am proud to say that our department is leading by example. Our Fishing and Boating Services unit now requires all staff who ride in boats &#8212; whether or not they are subject to the law &#8212; to take the boating safety exam, including our experienced captains.<\/span><\/li>\n<li><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">And never operate a vessel under the influence of alcohol or drugs. \u00a0In these cases, accidents and fatalities are 100 percent preventable. We want everyone to enjoy their experience out on the water, but nothing is worth losing your life or taking the lives of others. \u00a0<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">On May 17, the Department of Natural Resources will again be reminding everyone of the importance of boater safety by celebrating Wear your Life Jacket to Work Day. We encourage you to participate at your own workplace and to share these life-saving tips. <\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">More information is available on the department\u2019s <\/span><a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/nrp\/Pages\/BoatingSafety\/home.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">website<\/span><\/a><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">. I look forward to seeing you out on the water and I wish everyone a happy and safe boating season!<\/span><\/p>\n<p><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Jeannie Haddaway-Riccio is Secretary of the <a href=\"https:\/\/dnr.maryland.gov\/Pages\/default.aspx\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener noreferrer\">Maryland Department of Natural Resources<\/a>.<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Boating Safety is a Way of Life in Maryland As an avid boater, I am very appreciative that Maryland\u2019s boating season is (finally) underway. And as the daughter of a boat builder and the wife of a former merchant marine, the importance of boater safety has been instilled in me throughout my life. \u00a0I want<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2019\/05\/06\/secretarys-message-may-2019\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":146,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[957,3171,12,14,33],"tags":[3197,3736,4035,3165],"class_list":["post-27399","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-boating","category-parks","category-nrp-news","category-the-bay","tag-boating","tag-boating-safety","tag-jeannie-haddaway-riccio","tag-u-s-coast-guard"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27399","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/146"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27399"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27399\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":27412,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27399\/revisions\/27412"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27399"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27399"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27399"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}