Contacts:
 
Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Recreation and Tourism Specialist, E: dgw9@cornell.edu, P: 315-312- 3042

Kara Lynn Dunn, NYSG's Great Lakes Freelance Publicist, E: karalynn@gisco.net, P: 315-465-7578

Oswego, NY, July 6, 2020 - New York Sea Grant (NYSG) is providing New York State’s freshwater marine industry for-hire boating sector with a series of decals to encourage public compliance with boating-specific COVID-19 safety precautions as part of the 2020 edition of NYSG’s nationally-recognized Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign.

The decals will adhere to boat surfaces to note “Mask Required,” “Use Sanitizer,” “Wear It” with a life jacket symbol, and ”Keep Personal Belongings Personal”; others have a blank line to write a name with an erasable marker to designate person-specific areas aboard the vessel for each individual’s fishing pole or diving gear. There is no cost for the decals to qualified for-hire boating businesses.

The captains or business owners of charter services, boat rentals, tour boats, and boats for-hire for leisure cruising, fishing or diving in New York State may request decals by emailing business name, postal address, and telephone number to sgoswego@cornell.edu. Details will be returned on the number of each style of decal available while supplies last. 

Printable templates of the decals are available to download for print-on-demand at www.nyseagrant.org/forhire. 

“This new outreach for 2020 is aimed at maintaining the opportunity to be on New York’s fabulous boating waters once again for both the public and the marine industry that is an essential economic driver for our coastal communities,” said New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White. “This project draws inspiration from a marine industry theme from the 1990s that fits today: ‘Boating in NY is good clean fun. . . let’s keep it that way.’”

For additional information on Boating in NY in 2020, with CDC and New York State COVID-19 guidelines, and a link to the Marine Retailers Association of the Americas’ Guide to Operating Your Boat Business Safely during COVID-19, visit www.nysgrecreation.org. 


More Info: New York Sea Grant

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York (SUNY), is one of 34 university-based programs under the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s National Sea Grant College Program.

Since 1971, NYSG has represented a statewide network of integrated research, education and extension services promoting coastal community economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness and understanding about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources.

Through NYSG’s efforts, the combined talents of university scientists and extension specialists help develop and transfer science-based information to many coastal user groups—businesses and industries, federal, state and local government decision-makers and agency managers, educators, the media and the interested public.

The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, SUNY Oswego and the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University in Long Island, Brooklyn College and Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC and Kingston in the Hudson Valley.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube links. NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which is published quarterly. Our program also produces an occasional e-newsletter,"NOAA Sea Grant's Social Media Review," via its blog, www.nyseagrant.org/blog.