Marine Industry Careers Day. Credit: NYSG

NY Sea Grant, Boating Industry Association Announce Activities for 2025 CNY Boat Show

Contacts

John Cannaday, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Recreation and Tourism Specialist, P: 315-849-4436, E: jdc378@cornell.edu

Ryan Kennedy, President, Boating Industries Association of Upstate New York, P: 315-635-8166

Drew Wickham, Central New York Boat Show Manager, P: 585-526-5460, E: info@cnyboatshow.com

Kara Lynn Dunn, New York Sea Grant Great Lakes Publicist, P: 315-465-7578, E: karalynn@gisco.net 

Oswego, NY, January 2, 2025 - New York Sea Grant (NYSG) and the Boating Industries Association (BIA) of Upstate New York have announced a schedule of activities that includes Marine Industry Careers Day panel presentations for youth and adults, New York State Boater Safety Certification Course days for youth and adults, and boating safety equipment demonstrations at the February 13-16, 2025 Central New York (CNY) Boat Show at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, New York. 

Marine Industry Careers Day on Thursday, February 13, 2025, at the CNY Boat Show will include a daytime panel presentation for students in BOCES Power Sports programs will feature members of the Boating Industry Association of Upstate New York and marine trades representatives. In addition to the daytime panel, NYSG will be facilitating an evening panel on careers in the marine trades will be open to all ages from 7:00-8:00 p.m. for those entering the workforce or those looking to make a career change into the marine industries. The panel presentations will be held at the Expo Center at the New York State Fairgrounds.

The Boating Industries Association job board will be on display throughout the boat show for those unable to attend the Careers Day on Thursday. Industry members are looking to hire in all positions from mechanics and sales to seasonal fuel dock attendants and permanent technicians. 

New York State Boater Safety Certification Course days will be held for all those not yet certified and who plan to operate a motorized watercraft, including personalized watercraft, on New York waters. The adult course will be held from 12:00-8:00 p.m. on Friday, February 14, 2025. The course for ages 10-17 will be held from 9:00 am to 5:00 p.m. on Saturday, February 15, 2025. Both courses at the CNY Boat Show are free of charge and include the proctored exam with state-certified instructors with the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary and New York Sea Grant at the Expo Center of the New York State Fairgrounds. Registration is required; contact New York Sea Grant at 315-849-4436 to reserve seating. Each adult registering for the course will receive one free admission to the 2025 CNY Boat Show; each youth registering for the course will receive three free admission tickets to the show. 

Throughout the February 13-16 show, New York Sea Grant and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary will be conducting outdoor demonstrations of how to use traditional pop-cap marine flares. Demonstration times are Thursday, February 13 and Friday, February 14 at 6:30 p.m.; Saturday, February 15 at 11:30 a.m. and 6:30 p.m.; and Sunday, February 16 at 11:30 a.m. Other types of emergency distress signals, including electronic visual distress signals, will be on exhibit. 

The New York Sea Grant boater education exhibit at the show will feature NYSG’s 2025 Discover Clean & Safe Boating vessel with the required equipment for environmentally-friendly boating on New York waters. Bilingual information will be available on beach and boating hazards, and, while supplies last, visitors will be able to pick up a New York State Boating Guide at the exhibit. 

New York Sea Grant and the U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary will offer daily demonstrations of inflatable personal floatation devices (PFDs) at the 2025 Central New York Boat Show.

The February 13-16, 2025 Central New York Boat Show will fill the Expo Center and Exhibit Center at the New York State Fairgrounds with more than 400 all-new models of power, sail, and non-motorized boats, personal watercraft, previously-enjoyed boats, docks, and boating accessories. Show hours are Thursday and Friday 1-8 p.m., Saturday 10 a.m.-8 p.m. and Sunday 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Admission is $12 per person, 13 and younger free; free parking and shuttle provided. Learn more at www.cnyboatshow.com.

More Info: New York Sea Grant

Established in 1966, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)’s National Sea Grant College Program promotes the informed stewardship of coastal resources in 34 joint federal/state university-based programs in every U.S. coastal state (marine and Great Lakes) and Puerto Rico. The Sea Grant model has also inspired similar projects in the Pacific region, Korea and Indonesia.

Since 1971, New York Sea Grant (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.

NYSG historically leverages on average a 3 to 6-fold return on each invested federal dollar, annually. We benefit from this, as these resources are invested in Sea Grant staff and their work in communities right here in New York.

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.

New York Sea Grant, one of the largest of the state Sea Grant programs, is a cooperative program of the State University of New York (SUNY) and Cornell University. The program maintains Great Lakes offices at Cornell University, SUNY Buffalo, Rochester Institute of Technology, SUNY Oswego, the Wayne County Cooperative Extension office in Newark, and in Watertown. In the State's marine waters, NYSG has offices at Stony Brook University and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Nassau County on Long Island, in Queens, at Brooklyn College, with Cornell Cooperative Extension in NYC, in Bronx, with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Ulster County in Kingston, and with Cornell Cooperative Extension of Westchester County in Elmsford.

For updates on Sea Grant activities: www.nyseagrant.org, follow us on social media (Facebook, Twitter/X, Instagram, Bluesky, LinkedIn, and YouTube). NYSG offers a free e-list sign up via www.nyseagrant.org/nycoastlines for its flagship publication, NY Coastlines/Currents, which it publishes 2-3 times a year.