{"id":45069,"date":"2025-07-11T10:25:43","date_gmt":"2025-07-11T14:25:43","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/?p=45069"},"modified":"2025-07-11T10:25:43","modified_gmt":"2025-07-11T14:25:43","slug":"nine-impaired-boaters-charged-during-july-4-weekend-in-maryland","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2025\/07\/11\/nine-impaired-boaters-charged-during-july-4-weekend-in-maryland\/","title":{"rendered":"Nine Impaired Boaters Charged During July 4 Weekend in Maryland"},"content":{"rendered":"<p style=\"text-align: center\"><i><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Strengthened \u2018Operation Dry Water\u2019 patrols crack down on drunk boaters<\/span><\/i><\/p>\n<div style=\"width: 436px\" class=\"wp-caption alignright\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"\" src=\"https:\/\/live.staticflickr.com\/65535\/54647821033_affdbee692_b.jpg\" alt=\"Saturation patrols targeting underaged drinking, impaired boating, negligent operation, and more violations take place at Horn Island in Ocean City on July 4, 2025. Maryland DNR photo.\" width=\"426\" height=\"336\" \/><p class=\"wp-caption-text\">Saturation patrols targeting underaged drinking, impaired boating, negligent operation, and more violations take place at Horn Island in Ocean City on July 4, 2025. Maryland DNR photo.<\/p><\/div>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) charged nine impaired boaters and investigated nine reportable boating accidents during its annual <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nasbla.org\/operationdrywater\/home\">Operation Dry Water<\/a> \u201csaturation patrol\u201d campaign, conducted from July 4 to July 6. Statistically this time is the busiest and most dangerous boating holiday. No boating fatalities were recorded on Independence Day weekend.<\/span><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">NRP officers made nine Operating While Under the Influence of Alcohol (OUI) arrests during the agency\u2019s heightened enforcement period from July 4-6. Boaters facing impaired boating charges can be penalized with up to $1,000 in fines and one year of jail time. Targeted patrols throughout the holiday weekend have resulted in 33 impaired boaters removed from Maryland\u2019s waterways during the past five years of Operation Dry Water participation.<\/span><!--more--><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The total of nine boating accidents recorded during this year\u2019s July 4 weekend was the same as last year. In 2023, 10 accidents were recorded.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">In total, NRP issued 152 citations and 703 warnings, conducted 422 recreational vessel inspections, 146 of which were conducted by reserve officers, and stopped 313 vessels during the three-day heightened enforcement period.<\/span><\/p>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">The following were charged with Operating While Under the Influence of Alcohol and other offenses during Operation Dry Water 2025.<\/span><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 23-year-old Texas man was charged after being stopped for improper navigation lighting on the Severn River near Annapolis on July 4.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 22-year-old Pasadena man was charged after being stopped for improper navigation lighting on the Chester River near Kent Narrows on July 4.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 61-year-old Centreville man was charged after being stopped for operating without navigation lights on the Chester River near Chestertown on July 4.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 49-year-old Salisbury man was charged after exceeding 6 knots in a speed zone in the Isle of Wight Bay in Ocean City on July 5.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 61-year-old Rossville man was charged after being stopped for a recreational vessel inspection on the Potomac River near Point Lookout in Scotland on July 5.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 54-year-old California man and a 51-year-old California woman were both charged after being stopped for improper navigation lighting on the Patuxent River near Cuckold Creek in Hollywood on July 5.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 36-year-old Port Deposit man was charged after being stopped for lighting violations on the Susquehanna River near Havre De Grace on July 5.<\/span><\/li>\n<li style=\"font-weight: 400\"><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">A 30-year-old Chester man was charged after being stopped for improper navigation lighting in the Kent Narrows near Kent Island on July 6.<\/span><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><span style=\"font-weight: 400\">Operation Dry Water was launched in 2009 by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators. NRP officers have participated in the joint effort since its inception, conducting \u201csaturation patrols\u201d in which increased numbers of officers concentrate in areas where drinking and boating are known to occur in Maryland.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Strengthened \u2018Operation Dry Water\u2019 patrols crack down on drunk boaters The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) charged nine impaired boaters and investigated nine reportable boating accidents during its annual Operation Dry Water \u201csaturation patrol\u201d campaign, conducted from July 4 to July 6. Statistically this time is the busiest and most dangerous boating holiday. No boating<a href=\"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/2025\/07\/11\/nine-impaired-boaters-charged-during-july-4-weekend-in-maryland\/\">&nbsp;&nbsp;Read the Rest&#8230;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":262,"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":[957,14],"tags":[4975,5211,3478,5236],"class_list":["post-45069","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-appnews","category-nrp-news","tag-maryland-natural-resources-police","tag-nrp","tag-operation-dry-water","tag-police"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45069","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\/262"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=45069"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45069\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":45078,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45069\/revisions\/45078"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=45069"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=45069"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.maryland.gov\/dnr\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=45069"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}