Award Winners Honored at the 63rd Annual NASBLA Conference
The 63rd Annual NASBLA Conference was held in Manchester, New Hampshire from Sept. 27 – 30, 2022. During the awards ceremony on Thursday, Sept. 29, NASBLA presented the association’s annual national awards, recognizing NASBLA members and colleagues in the recreational boating safety community for their outstanding contributions to boating and water safety. NASBLA had the opportunity to recognize 21 award winners at this year’s event.
Lifetime Achievement Award
NASBLA first began presenting the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1998. This award is designed to recognize a person who has contributed to boating safety over his or her lifetime.
- Captain Merri Walker joined the Massachusetts Environmental Police in 1985, where she spent most of her
years of service working in or supervising the Boat & Recreation Vehicle Safety Bureau. She pushed for boating law reform, while stressing the need for mandatory boater education. Captain Walker began serving as the Massachusetts Boating Law Administrator (BLA) in May of 2010. On July 4, 2012, Captain Walker’s strong initiative, dedication and vision resulted in Massachusetts becoming the second state in the nation to receive NASBLA Boat Operations and Training (BOAT) Program Accreditation. From then on, Captain Walker acted as the Accredited Agency Program Manager for the Massachusetts Environmental Police’s (MEP) BOAT Program, overseeing 19 NASBLA Instructor Credentialing Program (NICP) instructors. Under their NASBLA accreditation, MEP trained over 545 public safety and law enforcement vessel operators through the delivery of more than 50 courses.
- Joe Carro retired from the U.S. Coast Guard as a Chief Boatswains Mate in 2002 after more than 24 years of
active service. In 2002, Carro became the Recreational Boating Safety Specialist, Law Enforcement Liaison, and Marine Patrol Officer Course Manager for the Office of Boating Safety, Coast Guard Headquarters, Washington D.C. He served as the Coast Guard’s lead recreational boating safety law enforcement subject matter expert for two decades. Carro also facilitated the formation and implementation of Operation Dry Water, a national awareness and enforcement campaign held every July 4th weekend, which focuses on reducing alcohol- and drug-related incidents and fatalities on the water.
Garner Leadership Award
Established in tribute to William B. Garner, who successfully marshaled the nation's first boat operator licensing law through state legislature, the Garner Award is presented to those men and women whose outstanding effort and achievement have elevated state or federal policy interventions to heights not previously attained.
- Jeff Wheeler has been a driving force behind the NASBLA Boat Operations and Training (BOAT) Program
since 2008. When he attended a Maritime Security conference in Baltimore, Maryland, the keynote speaker, Admiral Sally Brice-O’Hara, focused on port security issues. Admiral Brice-O’Hara pointed to NASBLA’s proposal to standardize training and protocols across all jurisdictional lines for maritime first responders, as a solution towards enhanced interoperability and capability. Wheeler realized the solution was to take a federal training doctrine and translate it to become applicable to not just Coast Guard competency training for coxswains, but also for all maritime first responders. Wheeler’s persistence prevailed and the Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) signed at Coast Guard Headquarters on May 12, 2012, gave NASBLA’s BOAT Program the recognition it needed. In addition to this, Wheeler also served as a Federal member of the National Boating Education Standards Panel for six years. As Panel Chair in 2019-2020, he guided a new “Core-Plus” approach to standards’ development to gain efficiency and consistency among evolving content. As a result of his leadership and vision, NASBLA and the boating community have five new ANSI-recognized American National Standards for Basic Boating Knowledge.
NASBLA Award
The NASBLA Award is given in appreciation to an individual who has either given a lot of time and effort to the association to help achieve its objectives or who is acknowledged nationally, statewide, or in their community for notable contributions to the betterment of boating.
- Lieutenant Mark Brown, of the Oklahoma Highway Patrol, has been an active leader in the association since
the 1990s. In 2013, he graduated from the NASBLA Leadership Academy and was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant, becoming his state’s BLA. In the year following, he was appointed to the Executive Board as a Member-at-Large and would later serve as Treasurer, Vice President, President, and Past President. Early on in his career, Lt. Brown was tasked with developing a marine law enforcement training program for his agency. During his tenure, he established a catalog of more than 800 hours of certified courses for the Oklahoma Council on Law Enforcement Education and Training. As Lt. Brown nears the end of his formal law enforcement career, he concludes his official NASBLA business in the same boating discipline in which it began more than 25 years ago, serving as the Chair of the National Education Standards Panel.
Boating Safety Award
First presented in 1992, the Boating Safety Award is bestowed upon a state or local government official who is involved in boating safety and who has demonstrated outstanding performance in any area of the program, including but not limited to enforcement, education, search and rescue, navigational aids or registration and titling.
- Luke Martinez, of the Curry County Aquatic Safety Program, most recently worked as a seasonal Marine
Safety Officer for the Curry County Sheriff’s Office where he worked on the waterways and in the schools of Curry County to help educate users and the youth of Oregon. He is currently working under a grant funded by the Aquatic Safety Pilot Program for Curry County that emphasizes preventative measures, education, and data collection of Curry’s aquatic and shoreline recreationists. In conjunction with his work with the Aquatic Safety Pilot Program, Martinez is working with the Oregon State Marine Board as a Boating Safety Advocate to educate boaters and youth regarding life jackets, water safety, and boating rules and regulations. Martinez is also part of the Oregon State Marine Board Law Enforcement Training Program as an instructor for Swiftwater Rescue and Personal Watercraft (PWC) trainings and assists with the Jet Boat Course and the Marine Law Enforcement Academy.
Compass Award
Created in 2009, the Compass Award is a means of recognizing a NASBLA member agency for significant measures and leadership it has taken to develop a model of performance in a specific area. This award identifies an agency whose program, effort, or initiative has truly enhanced our nation’s safety and security, and one that has become a model for us to follow.
- The Oregon State Marine Board (OSMB) embarked on a strategic mission in 2010 to engage the
non-motorized boating community that was so rapidly changing the face of recreational boating. Though paddlers have always found Oregon’s waterways attractive, the growth in numbers since 2000 led to user conflict, crowding, and an increase in the number of fatalities. Three iterations of advisory groups eventually resulted in a new law being passed in 2019, which began its implementation in 2020. Today, Oregon’s non-motorized boating Waterway Access Program is a model program for the user-pays, user-benefits philosophy of providing constituent services and other state programs who are looking to develop their services for non-motorized programs.
Bonner Award
Established in 1971, the Bonner Award is presented to a state or federal boating official who exemplifies the leadership qualities displayed by former Congressman Herbert C. Bonner of North Carolina, author of the Bonner Act (Federal Boating Safety Act of 1958). This award had previously been retired by NASBLA, last given in 2015. However, the NASBLA Executive Board decided that the Bonner Award needed to be brought out of retirement for an exemplary recipient.
- Dave Dahms served as the Idaho Boating Law Administrator (BLA) for 16 years, from 2006 to 2022. He was
a two-time Western States Boating Administrators Association (WSBAA) Board President, served two terms on the National Boating Safety Advisory Committee, and chaired the NASBLA Awards committee for four years. Dahms was also the Chair of NASBLA’s Education & Outreach Committee and served on the Paddlesports and Vessel Identification, Registration & Titling (VIRT) committees. Within his home state, Dahms oversaw the installation of approximately 120 life jacket loner stations. While these accomplishments of a long and extraordinary career certainly merit recognition, what Dahms’ colleagues admire most about him was his tireless commitment to raising up his peers, welcoming new BLAs to the WSBAA and NASBLA communities, and providing leadership as a colleague and friend.
Daniel Maxim Award for Distinguished Service
The Maxim Award recognizes the contributions of individuals whose efforts advance our understanding of the world through the application of research and analysis. Through their efforts, recipients of this award point us toward potential policy solutions and interventions.
- Dave Considine is a champion in the science of adult learning and contemporary classroom instruction
techniques both in theory and in practice. Like Dr. Maxim, Considine is deeply committed to fostering research, analysis and the scientific method in advancing the goals and outcomes of NASBLA’s Boat Operations and Training (BOAT) Program. Since becoming the BOAT Program’s National Director five years ago, Considine has brought a new level of appreciation for the use of data analysis, broad scientific knowledge and the modern neuroscience of learning to the training and development sphere. Each year, Considine and a small cadre of senior instructors, participate in the Association for Talent Development’s annual symposium to glean valuable insights and new adult learning techniques and to mine for practical applications to enhance the design and delivery of BOAT program courses. All of our instructors and students benefit from these efforts, as Considine and his senior Program Managers bring this knowledge and expertise back to the rank-and-file instructors at our annual BOAT Program Instructor Development Workshops. In essence, Considine and his team are helping to create a more productive, effective and professional workforce for our agencies and other first responder agencies every time they conduct a BOAT Program course.
National Pamela S. Dillon Boating Educator of the Year
Generously sponsored by Kalkomey Enterprises, Inc., the Pamela S. Dillon Boating Educator of the Year Award was launched by NASBLAin 2011 to recognize those who go above and beyond to engage students and boaters, raise awareness, and make boating education initiatives relevant, thorough and exciting.
National Boating Officer of the Year
First presented in 2000, the Marvin “Butch” Potts Memorial Award, known as the Boating Law Enforcement Officer of the Year Award, is presented annually to a boating law enforcement officer who has made outstanding contributions to the field of boating law enforcement.
Operation Dry Water Awards
.jpeg "Operation Dry Water Award Winners")
The Operation Dry Water (ODW) Awards Program recognizes law enforcement officers and agencies that are making a positive impact on boating under the influence (BUI). During the ceremony, the ODW Officer of the Year, Top Agencies and Media Award winners were honored for their hard work and dedication to boating under the influence prevention and the Operation Dry Water campaign. Click here to read more about the 2022 ODW award winners.
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The National Association of State Boating Law Administrators is a national nonprofit, 501(c)3 organization that works to develop public policy for recreational boating safety. NASBLA represents the recreational boating authorities of all 50 states and the U.S. territories.
We offer a variety of resources, including training, model acts, education standards, publications and more. Through a national network of thousands of professional educators, law enforcement officers and volunteers, we affect the lives of over 76 million American boaters.