By the Nevada Department of Wildlife
Game wardens from the Nevada Department of Wildlife (NDOW) will participate in a national effort to reduce instances of boating under the influence. For the effort, dubbed Operation Dry Water, officers will be out in force June 24-26 looking for boat operators with a Blood Alcohol Content (BAC) exceeds the state limit of .08%.
Operation Dry Water will include increased patrols statewide, including at Lakes Mead and Mohave, South Fork Reservoir and Lake Tahoe.
In addition, game wardens will have an operating under the influence check point in Lyon County this weekend as part of the effort.
Drunken operators can expect tough penalties, including fines and jail time.
“Impaired boaters are responsible for a large number of our boating deaths every year,” said David Pfiffner, boating law administrator at NDOW. “With just a little awareness, we can stop many of these needless accidents and fatalities.”
Boating under the influence (BUI) is a primary contributing factor in nearly 1 in 5 boating fatalities nationwide, and Nevada has gotten tougher in recent years in enforcing laws against this high-risk behavior.
A boat operator or passenger with a blood alcohol concentration above the legal limit runs a significantly increased risk of being involved in a boating accident. When impaired by alcohol, boating accidents are more likely and more deadly for both passengers and boat operators, many of whom capsize their vessel or simply fall overboard.
Operation Dry Water (ODW), a multi-agency, education and enforcement initiative launched by the National Association of State Boating Law Administrators (NASBLA) in 2009 in partnership with the U.S. Coast Guard, puts thousands of local, state and federal marine law enforcement officers on the water nationwide the last weekend in June to give BUI enforcement high visibility during the peak boating season.
“There will be arrests this weekend, and some boaters will face the consequences of boating under the influence,” said Pfiffner.
“We want recreational boaters to enjoy themselves, but there will be zero tolerance for BUI.”
Operation Dry Water is a joint program of NDOW, NASBLA and the U.S. Coast Guard. For more information, visit www.operationdrywater.org.