The Maryland Department of Natural Resources has certified Forked Creek Yacht Club in Severna Park as the state’s newest Maryland Clean Marina Partner, bringing the total number of certified facilities statewide to 131 — roughly a quarter of Maryland’s marinas.
The voluntary program recognizes marine facilities that comply with existing environmental regulations and adopt a significant share of the best practices outlined in the Maryland Clean Marina Guidebook, covering areas such as emergency preparedness, waste containment and stormwater management. To earn certification, a facility typically must score between 75% and 85% in each category evaluated on the program’s award checklist.
Forked Creek Yacht Club invested in a small spill response kit and wrote emergency response plans to reduce the risk of a fuel or chemical spill reaching nearby waterways. “We want to be ready should anything happen here, especially if it could harm the environment,” said the club’s commodore, Steve Scott. The club also began sharing environmental education materials with members, upgraded electrical service on its piers and made safety equipment more visible throughout the property. “Sharing information with members is an easy step to preventing illegal or harmful discharges from our boats,” said marina board member Rob Hanley.
The Clean Marina program, run by DNR’s Boating Services division, is one of the state’s tools for reducing non-point source pollution — runoff and discharge that doesn’t come from a single identifiable source — from reaching the Chesapeake Bay and its tributaries. Marinas, boatyards and yacht clubs of any size can pursue certification, and DNR offers free technical assistance and resources to facilities working toward the award.
Southern Maryland is home to several certified Clean Marinas and Partners, reflecting the region’s dense concentration of waterfront marine facilities along the Patuxent and Potomac rivers and the Chesapeake Bay. Solomons Landing Marina in Calvert County earned certification in 2019 after installing fuel spill response kits and developing clarified marina rules, and Beacon Marina in Solomons has also achieved Clean Marina status. Statewide, DNR estimates Maryland has roughly 600 marinas in total, meaning even at 131 certified facilities, the majority of the state’s marine industry has not yet pursued the voluntary designation.
The program has grown steadily since its creation more than two decades ago. It reached its 20th anniversary in 2019, when the total number of certified Clean Marinas and Partners stood at 147 statewide — a figure that has fluctuated over time as some facilities let certifications lapse while new ones join, though the program has consistently represented roughly a quarter to a third of Maryland’s marinas depending on the year. Facilities seeking recertification must periodically demonstrate they continue to meet the program’s standards.
Clean Marina Partners, a related but distinct designation from full Clean Marina certification, recognizes facilities that may not operate as traditional marinas but still voluntarily adopt the program’s pollution-prevention practices in their daily operations. Both categories are intended to promote what DNR materials describe as a broader conservation ethic among boaters and marine facility operators: individual responsibility for the health of Maryland’s waterways.
Boaters are encouraged to patronize certified Clean Marinas when possible, and to adopt clean boating habits themselves, including properly disposing of waste, avoiding litter, and following state and federal laws governing the discharge of sewage, fuel and other chemicals into Maryland waters.
Marina and boatyard operators interested in learning more about the certification process, along with the Clean Marina Guidebook and Award Checklist, can find resources on the Department of Natural Resources’ boating webpage. Questions can be directed to Donna Morrow at DNR at donna.morrow@maryland.gov.
Environmental groups have generally supported the Clean Marina program as a lower-cost complement to mandatory regulation, arguing that voluntary best-practice adoption can move faster than new rulemaking while still reducing pollutants such as fuel, oil, paint and sewage from entering the bay. Because marinas concentrate boat traffic, fueling and maintenance activity in relatively small waterfront areas, they can pose an outsized pollution risk relative to their footprint if spills or improper waste handling go unaddressed — the exact risk the certification program is designed to reduce through preventive planning rather than after-the-fact cleanup.
