Boaters Reminded To Be Safe As We Kick Off Boating Season In Maryland

BALTIMORE (WJZ) -- This weekend kicks off the summer boating season in Maryland, which also means it's the start of boating accident season.

The summer months normally see the greatest number of accidents and deaths of the year.

The search for the missing takes a lot longer than the boating accident that sent them into the water.

"That's the thing, they happen very fast," said U.S. Coast Guard Lt. Commander Sara Wallace.

And during the summer months, rescues and searching for the dead are often the result of too few life jackets or too much drinking.

"We need people to be be sober and conscious of what's going on around them," said Maryland Natural Resources Police Lt. Col. Ken Ziegler.

Natural Resources Police recorded an 18 percent increase in drunk boat operators last year. They're also looking for bow riding violations.

"And this would be putting your child or somebody at the front of a boat, would be the equivalent of having them ride on the hood of your car," said Zielger.

Last year in Ocean City, a boy riding on the bow of a boat fell off, and was killed by the propeller.

Alcohol and risky behavior aren't the only causes of boating accidents. Often it comes down to the weather.

"And they start to see the clouds build and think they have time," said Wallace. "The weather also turns bad very quickly, and they don't make it back in time."

The lucky are rescued, oftentimes by other boaters, but when a life is lost, it takes a toll on first responders and rescue teams.

It falls to dive teams, like Anne Arundel County Fire Department's, to find the missing for devastated family members.

"That's the final thing we can do for the citizens of the county if they've lost a loved one, recover their family member," said Lt. Michael Hicks, with the AACO Fire Department Dive Team.

Last year, 17 people died in Maryland waters. An improvement over 2015, when there were 21 fatalities.

2016 still saw three double fatal accidents and one triple fatal.

The exact number of close calls is not known.

There has already been one fatal boating accident, when a man was lost over the winter.

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