any tips for fishing them and dealing with boat traffic?

If you have to fish near them, use backleads to keep the lines on bottom. You'll lose a little sensitivity on the alarms, but it's a necessary evil. That or get spooled when a prop wraps up your line.

If your near a busy ramp take special precautions.Fish with fewer rods. Don't cast out any more rods than you can reel in in 25 seconds.Many boaters are preoccupied and won't even notice you.Always assume that they will head directly toward you and be prepared to remove you lines before they get ya.Give the boaters plenty of space to dock.Most important be prepared for a launched boat to cicle 4 times just feet from the bank in front of you, then dock , wait for you to cast then back up over your line and ask if you caught any.

dont fish next to them if they have constant traffic....you are just asking to get your lines caught up in a prop

Backlead, backlead, backlead. Tips down helps too but backleading is the only way to ensure that your lines aren't going to get picked up. Other than those few idiot boaters out there you should be safe. Boat dock areas hold a lot of fish because the water is constantly getting stirred up uprooting more food for the fish plus whatever people throw in the water and it's worth the risk to fish them.

forgive my ignorance but what is "backleading"

Come on Preston lol

You clip on a lead that is either tethered to your rod pod(captive backlead) or is free running(clip on backleads) that pins your line to the bottom and keeps it away from boats, ducks, kayaks, paddleboards, people, floating debris, dogs, etc.
Captive
http://www.foxint.com/catalogues-products.php?section=16&catalogue=1&product=1262
Clip on
http://www.korda.co.uk/carpfishingnews/new-super-subtle-backleads/

Its a technique of putting a lead on your line further back on your line than normal to pin your line to the ground.You could actually pin it to the ground near the bank with one tecnique. I had to google it , never actually done it. What Austin said.

ive never done the back leading thing, but i will fish tips down. to the point they are just an inch of so from the dirt. you can also fish slack line in addition to that to make sure your line lays on the bottom. but i dont like fishing slack line, because it will require a bigger run to get bite indication.