Discover Clean & Safe Sailboat and New Watercraft Inspection Educator will be at 2012 Buffalo Boat Show February 22-26

2012 Clean Marina Education

Contacts: 

• Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Recreation/Tourism Specialist, P: 315.312.3042, E: dgw9@cornell.edu
• Dennis Powers, WNY Boat Show Manager, 716-875-2255

Buffalo, NY, February 20, 2012 – The Discover Clean & Safe Boating educational vessel for 2012 is a sailboat. The 17-foot Sun Cat - equipped with all the gear required and recommended for legal, safe, and environmentally-friendly boating in New York waters – will be at the Buffalo Boat Show February 22 through February 26. The event organized by the Marine Trades Association of Western New York is held at the Buffalo Bills Healthy Zone Fieldhouse in Orchard Park, NY.

A representative of the new-in-2012 New York Sea Grant Aquatic Invasive Species Resource Educators and Watercraft Inspectors Program will be at on hand at the exhibit on Saturday and Sunday to help boaters identify ways they can voluntarily help slow or prevent the spread of invasive species.

The made-in-New-York 12-foot aluminum canoe E/V Ontario is also part of the display.

“The Discover Clean & Safe Boating educational vessels are a great addition to our show and provide boaters with vital information to help them be safe and legal, and good stewards of New York’s fabulous boating waters,” says Western New York Boat Show Manager Dennis Powers.

The Discover Clean & Safe Boating campaign is an award-winning educational program developed by New York Sea Grant, and a collaboration with the Boating Industries Association of Upstate New York, Marine Trades Association of Western New York and other marine trade organizations, The Sailboat Shop of Skaneateles, Marathon Boat Group, Arney’s Marina, and the national Stop Aquatic Hitchhikers program. Morgan Recreational Supply and Taylor Made Products supplied the boating gear for the traveling educational exhibit.

The Western NY Boat Show is open Wednesday, 2/22: 5-9pm; Thursday 2/23 and Friday 2/24: 12noon 9pm; Saturday 2/25: 10am-9pm; and Sunday 2/26: 10am-5pm. Admission is $5 for adults; children 12 and younger enter free with one paid adult. Parking is free. Find more information online at www.buffaloboating.com.

In 2011, the BoatUS Foundation for Boating Safety and Clean Water awarded New York Sea Grant Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White and the Discover Clean & Safe Boating campaign a commendation.

For more information on the Discover Clean & Safe Boating campaign, contact White at New York Sea Grant, Oswego, NY, 315-312-3042.

New York Sea Grant (NYSG), a statewide network of integrated research, education, and extension services promoting the coastal economic vitality, environmental sustainability and citizen awareness about the State’s marine and Great Lakes resources, has been “Bringing Science to the Shore” for over 40 years. NYSG, one of 32 university-based programs under the National Sea Grant College Program of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), is a cooperative program of the State University of New York and Cornell University. The National Sea Grant College Program engages this network of the nation’s top universities in conducting scientific research, education, training, and extension projects designed to foster science-based decisions about the use and conservation of our aquatic resources.