Tourist boats, pleasure craft restricted along Potomac

WASHINGTON (CNN) -- The Coast Guard continues to restrict passage through the stretch of Potomac River flowing past Reagan Washington National Airport, the Jefferson Memorial, and other Washington landmarks such as the Tidal Basin.

Unannounced boat traffic is essentially limited to daylight hours and vessels are subject to Coast Guard inspection.

National Airport, situated along the Potomac River, remains closed. A nearby public boat ramp at the end of a runway is included under the Coast Guard restrictions.

The restrictions call for advance notice of any travel through the area outside of a 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. time frame.

Similar restrictions in the Port of New York-New Jersey were reimposed Sunday after the Coast Guard, which had tried to relax recreational boating limitations, found boaters were trying to slip past patrol boats.

"We did try to open part of the port earlier," said Rear Adm. Richard Bennis. He said problems were caused by boaters apparently trying to approach the waterfront area to see the collapsed ruins of the World Trade Center buildings.

Authorities initially established security perimeters in the port to guard against attacks by water, but now also maintains an "emergency response zone" to protect the Lower Manhattan waterfront from gawkers.