Game wardens will show little mercy to boating law violators this summer, and they say they’ve decided to target those on Long and Sebago lakes for particular attention.

Col. Thomas Santaguida, chief of the Bureau of Warden Service, announced last week that the warden service will conduct an aggressive boating-law enforcement campaign designed to reduce the number of boating complaints, accidents and fatalities in the big lakes region.

“This year, in an attempt to counter the growing boating problems and related complaints, we have developed an enhanced enforcement plan for the summer for this region,” said Santaguida. “Our game wardens will be assigned from all over Maine throughout the summer at key times to specifically look for boating violators and if appropriate, summons or arrest them.”

Over the past few years, the Sebago-Long Lake region through Naples and Sebago has been the source of repeat and growing complaints regarding unsafe boating, violations of boating laws pertaining to safe operation, drunken boating and noise limit violations for watercraft engines.

“During the course of the summer, these enhanced patrols will continue during peak boating times: weekends, hot weather periods and evenings. In all, we will have 87 additional warden patrols for the region during these times,” Santaguida said.

The warden service will supplement regular patrol shifts with game wardens from other parts of Maine where there is less boating activity.

The warden service oversees the enforcement of laws and rules pertaining to watercraft as well as the safety of boaters on the state’s inland waterways.

The enforcement program will include the use of conventional watercraft, personal watercraft and aircraft to monitor and patrol waterways.