Contact:  

Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Recreation/Tourism Specialist, P: 315.312.3042, E: dgw9@cornell.edu

Auburn, NY, June 22, 2012 – The 2012 Discover Clean & Safe Sailboat is joining the lineup of environmental agencies and organizations attending the 5th Annual Owasco Lake Day on Wednesday, June 27th at Emerson Park in Auburn.

The 17-foot Com-Pac Sun Cat that is the educational vessel for the 2012 Discover Clean & Safe Boating campaign educates boaters about all the gear required and recommended for legal, safe and environmentally-friendly boating on New York’s waters.

The exhibit, organized and staffed by New York Sea Grant, will include information about a new voluntary watercraft inspection program being offered statewide.

Waterfront stewards located in Central New York, along the Finger Lakes and eastern Lake Ontario and on waters elsewhere in New York State are helping boaters learn how to inspect motorized and non-motorized vessels and properly dispose of any unwanted aquatic invasive species.

Aquatic invasive species – species not native to the local ecosystem - can damage boat engines and steering equipment, reduce native game fish populations, degrade ecosystems, make lakes and rivers unusable by boaters and swimmers, and impact the economies of waterfront communities. National Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers information will be available at the Discover Clean & Safe Boating exhibit.

The 2012 Discover Clean and Safe Boating campaign sponsors include New York Sea Grant, The Skaneateles Sailboat Shop, Arney’s Marina, Marathon Boat Group, Morgan Recreational Supply, Taylor Made Products, and the Boating Industries Association of Upstate New York.

Other participants with exhibits for the day include the Institute for the Application of Geospatial Technology at Cayuga Community College, Cayuga County Solid Waste, Cayuga County Water Quality Management Association, Finger Lakes Institute at Hobart & William Smith, the Owasco Lake Association, Cayuga County Soil & Water District Watershed Inspection program, and Cornell Cooperative Extension of Cayuga County.

For more info on the Discover Clean & Safe Boat, contact Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY, 315-312-3042, www.nyseagrant.org/marina. 



More Info:

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a cooperative program of Cornell University and the State University of New York is one of 32 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program (NSGCP) of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA). Through its statewide network of integrated services, NYSG has been promoting coastal vitality, environmental sustainability, and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources since 1971.

For updates on New York Sea Grant activities, www.nyseagrant.org has RSS, Facebook, Twitter and YouTube links.