Maryland’s Chesapeake Bay is the largest of 130 estuaries in the United States. It is about 200 miles long, and stretches from Havre de Grace, MD to the Maryland /Virginia line. The 64,000 square mile Chesapeake Bay watershed includes parts of six states and the District of Columbia. About 150 major rivers and streams empty into the Bay. Maryland has thousands of miles of navigable bays, lakes and waterways to include the coastal waters of the Atlantic Ocean off Worcester County. The Natural Resources Police (NRP) is the primary state agency responsible for enforcing the State Boat Act and conducting search and rescue operations for the boating community.

This maritime responsibility requires that each and every NRP officer is capable of operating a variety of watercraft. The watercraft that the NRP are required to operate range in size from a Personal Water Craft (PWC) to a 45 foot patrol vessel. The NRP have patrol boat duty stations throughout the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries across the states, which are strategically located to enhance daily patrols for boating & conservation enforcement. The NRP is the lead state agency for search and rescue on the State’s waters and coordinate efforts with other federal agencies such as the United States Coast Guard and county law enforcement marine units.