The Virginia Department of Wildlife Resources released its 2021 Recreational Boating Incident summary and found that incidents on Smith Mountain Lake increased slightly over 2020. DWR Sgt. James Slaughter tells the Register & Bee that one factor in the increase is that the lake’s boat traffic was higher than in 2020 when COVID-19 impacted boaters. Across Virginia boating incidents were down from 2020 after hitting a peak that year.