Coast Guard, national boating group target drunken boaters

The Coast Guard is cracking down on drunken boating.

Beginning this weekend, Operation Dry Water will seek out impaired boaters in 43 states or territories, including Florida.

While a cooler filled with beer is often considered standard equipment for recreational boaters, the combination can be deadly, the Coast Guard says.

Twenty-one percent of deaths from recreational boating accidents are attributable to alcohol use, the Coast Guard says. In Florida, boaters are considered impaired if their blood-alcohol content is above .08 percent, the same standard used for motorists.

The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators, which is working with the Coast Guard on Operation Dry Water, estimates that a boater with a blood-alcohol level greater than .10 is "more than 10 times as likely to die in a boating accident than an operator with zero blood alcohol concentration." Boaters have implied consent to testing while boating on Florida waters.

"We want people to have fun while recreational boating," Capt. Richard Moore, boating law administrator for the Florida Fish & Wildlife Conservation Commission, and NASBLA president said in a statement. "But alcohol use is a problem on the water. We recommend that people avoid alcohol whenever they are boating, and we will have zero tolerance for anyone found operating a boat under the influence of alcohol or drugs."

Deaths and injuries have decreased drastically in the last decade, according to the National Recreational Boating Statistics, which is published annually by the Coast Guard. The report cites 704 "alcohol-related" boating accidents in 1998 and 421 accidents in 2007. Not good enough yet, Moore said.

"We would rather arrest someone than have to tell their family and friends they're never coming back," he said.

Under Florida law, those convicted of operating a boat while impaired can be:

• fined up to $500 and imprisoned for up to 6 months for a first conviction.

• fined up to $1,000 and imprisoned for up to 9 months for a second conviction.

• fined up to $2,500 and imprisoned for up to one year for a third conviction.

Being involved in an accident that causes property damage, injury, or death is considered a felony.