Officials from the South Dakota Game, Fish and Parks (GF&P) are cracking down on boaters who operate their vessels while intoxicated.

“Although we have been conducting these operations for a number of years, we’re giving them more publicity now,” said Brandon Gust, law enforcement specialist for the GF&P.

Officials will hold operations with saturation patrols in specific areas. They will also run safety checks out on the waters across the state.

“There is an increased number of people out on the water during the summer and on the Fourth of July, so we’re emphasizing alcohol awareness,” Gust said. “However, we don’t conduct anything different than we normally would with having these checks.”

He added that the checks on the water are not like automobile sobriety checks.

“With cars, each car gets checked — and this is not like that,” Gust said, “We do some checks either from seeing things out on the water or having officers in areas doing safety checks on the ramps. If we come into contact with someone that has been drinking, we’ll address the issue.”

He added that a typical safety check for a boat inspection is either out on the water or at a boat ramp.

“We check for safety equipment on vessels, including life jackets,” Gust said. “We also look for proper boat registration and other items operators need to have on board.”

Gust added that before boaters go out, they should make sure they have everything required by law in the boat, limit their alcohol consumption and have a safe operator on board.

“We have different parts of the state that we take more of an effort to get awareness out there, particularly in bodies of water where alcohol consumption is more prevalent,” he said. “Typically, it seems like once the word gets out about the sobriety checks, the numbers of alcohol violations go down.”

Alcohol violation numbers for boaters have held steady over the past few years, but numbers increased slightly last year due to hot and dry conditions across the state, Gust said.

“With the weather the way it is in South Dakota, the length of the boating season can vary each year based on weather conditions,” he said. “When it is hotter and dry outside, we see more people out on the lakes and rivers.”

Gust said typically alcohol consumption is higher at recreational areas, such as Lewis and Clark Lake, but consumption still occurs at smaller fishing lakes.

He noted that it can be difficult for other boaters to spot a drunk operator on the water.

“It’s tough to tell if someone is operating their vessel drunk,” Gust said. “Boats are free-floating and there are no traffic lanes, so it’s hard to give anything for people to look out for. The biggest thing is that if something looks out of place, careless or is a danger to other people, you should not hesitate to report the vessel operator.”

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