Strengthened ‘Operation Dry Water’ patrols crack down on drunk boaters
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.
The Maryland Natural Resources Police (NRP) charged nine impaired boaters and investigated nine reportable boating accidents during its annual Operation Dry Water “saturation patrol” 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.
NRP officers made nine Operating While Under the Influence of Alcohol (OUI) arrests during the agency’s 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’s waterways during the past five years of Operation Dry Water participation.
The total of nine boating accidents recorded during this year’s July 4 weekend was the same as last year. In 2023, 10 accidents were recorded.
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.
The following were charged with Operating While Under the Influence of Alcohol and other offenses during Operation Dry Water 2025.
- A 23-year-old Texas man was charged after being stopped for improper navigation lighting on the Severn River near Annapolis on July 4.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
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 “saturation patrols” in which increased numbers of officers concentrate in areas where drinking and boating are known to occur in Maryland.
