GILFORD With fewer officers and a recent surge in boat registrations, the Marine Patrol is bracing for a busy summer.
We wish we could be everywhere at once, but you can't, especially with what we've been given to work with this year, said State Police Marine Patrol Bureau Sgt. Joshua Dirth, who is now second in command of the patrol after two senior positions were left vacant.
The boating public is going to start feeling the impacts of the budget cuts, he said. We are going to do the very best job we can do, nothing will change that, but people should know that we don't have the resources that we once had.
About $1.2 million in state budget cuts in the past two years and a decline in boat registrations during that period were factors in staffing cuts. Reductions in matching federal funds, allotted by perceived need of each agency, was another factor. The number of seasonal officers has been cut from more than 70 to about 30, Dirth said.
When former Marine Patrol Director David Barrett died last year, he was not replaced, nor was his second in command, Dirth said.
Meanwhile, it looks like one of the busiest boating seasons in years is about to arrive. Boat registrations are up by 9.1 percent for the first four months of 2012 compared with the same period a year ago from 37,353 to 40,756 said James C. Van Dongen, public information officer for the Department of Safety.
In 2011, there were 91,950 boats registered. In 2005, there were 102,258.
Planning for this summer's coverage hasn't been easy, Dirth said.
The patrol will cover all of the state's 975 water bodies and its coastline as usual, just not in as many numbers as before.
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