Contact:
Dave White, New York Sea Grant, Recreation and Tourism Specialist, P: 315-312- 3042, E: dgw9@cornell.edu
Oswego, NY, July 14, 2020 - New York Sea Grant (NYSG) Coastal Recreation and Tourism Specialist Dave White talks on Finger Lakes Radio about new decals offering safety reminders for the charter fishing, charter diving, and tour boat industries.
This series of six decals encourage public compliance with boating specific safety precautions in COVID-19.
Printable templates of the decals, which address safety reminders for the charter fishing, charter diving, and tour boat industries, are available to download at www.nyseagrant.org/forhire.
You can also order decals, while supplies last, by emailing sgoswego@cornell.edu.
And listen to White's full conversation on Finger Lakes Radio ...
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Established in 2000, the Finger Lakes Radio Group serves listeners and advertisers in the central Finger Lakes region of upstate New York. Since then, the group has grown to a seven station cluster with studios and offices in Geneva, Auburn, Penn Yan and Canandaigua. Two of those stations (WGVA and WAUB) comprise Finger Lakes News Radio, a CBS Radio News affiliate offering breaking news in the region 24 hours a day.
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Full Transcript:
[00:00:00] Good morning, it is 8:15 on this Tuesday morning and a pleasure to welcome Dave White, the recreation and tourism specialist from New York See Grant. Dave, Good morning.
[00:00:13] Good morning to you, Steve. It is a great day in the Finger Lakes, I have to tell you.
[00:00:17] It is beautiful day to be a boating or recreating in some way, shape or form.
[00:00:24] Absolutely. And I happened to be sitting on one of the Finger Lakes, looking out at the boats and those who are enjoying our waterways in a fun, safe way. So, you know, you can't start the day any better than this.
[00:00:34] That is true. You know, it's just a little cloudy. But you're lucky I'm stuck in the studio with a nice view of the woods behind the building. But anyway, I want to talk about boating during this pandemic, which, you know, has, we thought, coming to an end. But certain person in Albany seems to think otherwise. But that's for another day. New York Sea Grant is helping out with a lot of information, especially for the for hire boating sector, along with the public as well.
[00:01:12] Yeah, absolutely. And, you know, we're excited. We continue to move forward and, you know, it's a great summer out on the water. You know, we are, you know, working our way through the pandemic. And there are still issues of COVID-19. … Boating is on, boating is open, marinas are open, boat launches are open, you know, taking special precautions. But, you know, we're back. You know, we're all back in business when it comes to being out on the water, be it a paddleboard, kayak, know, canoe, motorboat powerboats, you know, and also rentals and charters. And so we've worked with that industry and done a recent project to help all of them within that industry. But also all those taking advantage of it - whether you're going to go out on a charter fishing boat, charter dive boat, you're going to maybe do a boat rental. This is a series of six decals that folks can put on the boat. You know, the businesses can put on the boat to help them comply with COVID-19 regulations, but also help the boating public feel like, “wow, these businesses are out in front and they're doing the right thing. They're going to make sure I have a good, fun, safe day on the water.” So we develop these decals specifically for what's referred to as the for hire. You know, what we all think about as the charter boat or the rental boat business that they can actually put right on their boat so that as soon as that passenger comes on board, we're going to have that feeling of comfort because we want to get people out on the water. And as we're all talking, staycation.
[00:02:32] What a great thing to think about with your family to do a staycation on a boat, via a leisure charter, fishing charter, dive charter or actually go out and rent a pontoon boat for the family.
[00:02:43] How difficult is it for somebody, you know, family planning a staycation, you know, to want to go on the water and be socially distant at the same time?
[00:02:55] It's absolutely easy. And that's the thing is all the businesses are out there to help people make it easy. So by doing some preplanning, once you're on the water, it's nothing more than a fun day on the water. And that's what we're all trying to do. For everybody in the boating business or to our boaters themselves is to once you hit the water, have a great fun day by just doing some preplanning. And again, I think you and I, when we talked earlier, you know, this spring is I look at a boat, it's an extension of your home. So whomever you're homebound with your family, you know, that's the group you want to take out on the boat for the day.
[00:03:30] So social distancing once you're on the boat is not a problem because you're really out there with your family and you're just going to have that great down the water. And a lot of times people already have a boat and it's, you know, on one body of water that they might not want to transport, maybe rent one on a different body of water just to have that different kind of experience, especially in the Finger Lakes, you know, start the checklist. Have I been on all 11 of them? You know, what a great thing. Wouldn't that be a cool thing? Is a staycation with your family to say we are going to visit all 11 Finger Lakes, you know, and have that be a family thing as part of the staycation program for the summer. And a lot of those areas you can either rent a kayak, a paddle paddleboard, pontoon powerboats. So, you know, you can just go from lake to lake and maybe do a couple of week with the family for an afternoon. So it's really about helping people be prepared to be out on the water. And then once you're there, it's just all about fun with the family.
[00:04:22] And you mentioned the decals and there are the usual ones, you know, use hand sanitizer, masks required, wearing a life jacket, obviously. And you've got some customizable ones as well.
[00:04:39] We do. And these are very specific for the charter fishing industry or the charter dive industry. And what they are is they're actually specific decals that in the case of like a charter fishing boat, if you haven't been out on one, there's multiple, rod holders. So there's enough rods available for each member that's out on the charter. And so in front of each pole, they can actually put this decal. And these decals are designed that at the end of the season, they can remove them. These are not permanent decals that be on the boat. And what they can do is put the fishing detail, if you will, right in front of each pole. And what it says is blank pole. And they can actually with like a dry erase or an erasable marker, actually, right on the line whose pole it is. So if you and I were going out on a charter boat, they'd be actually to be able to reach Steve's pole or Dave's pole on it. So you and I know that's our pole to be using for the day. So we're not crossing poles. They don't have to worry about wiping that pulled down consistently throughout the day. So, you know, they've taken that piece away of having to because that's your pole for the day, like it's your life jacket for the day or in case of the dive one. It actually says blank gear. So, you know, when they're lining up the gear, they can put a sign there saying it's Steve's gear or here's where Dave's gear is.
[00:05:48] But again and it just takes the whole issue of, you know, we're using each other's equipment and for the businesses, they have to comply with a lot of this and they want to make it easy for the customer so the customer doesn't have to worry about it at all. And the other thing is they want to make sure the customers are feeling safe and secure to bring the family out. And that's a real goal here as well, is by doing this. You know, people can board the boat and go. This business is taking my health seriously, that I can just get onboard and have a great day and have a lot of fun out on our Finger Lakes, waterways, our Great Lakes, waterways. So it's really about ensuring good, clean, safe boating, fun, getting people out on the water, taking advantage of what we have here in the Finger Lakes, because as we all know, you can find this nowhere else in the world. And this is just a great opportunity for a lot of us to take advantage, that we live here and we probably don't think about maybe, you know, hitting all 11 Finger Lakes. What a cool thing to do. People travel from all over the world when they can to try to do that. You know, that's one of the bucket list things that people talk about.
[00:06:53] Hey, make a bucket list for your staycation.
[00:06:56] Yeah, it's like climbing the fourteeners. The mountains over 14,000 feet in Colorado. I think there's, if I remember correctly, there is about a dozen of them. And I think I managed two.
[00:07:07] But, yeah, I mean, those are bucket list items people can have. So, all of us that work with the industry ...
[00:07:15] And I repeat myself, because I think that's the important part. We all want to make sure people are comfortable, safe, but also just have fun when you're out there. And by doing that prep, by working with the for hire businesses to do all that prep in advance, you're going to be able to go out there and just enjoy our waterways whether you want go out and fish or snorkel or swim or ski. Boy, did I just make myself saying ski versus tube and kneeboard and wakeboard and get out there and just have that great day with the family knowing that people are taking care of you to make sure you're going to be healthy.
[00:07:49] And I'm guessing that most for higher businesses have already gotten their decals for those that maybe you haven't.
[00:07:57] how do they go about getting them? The easy way to do it is you can e-mail directly to us and just give us your business name, address and phone number and we will send them right out to you. And that email is SGOswego@Cornell.edu or they can go to www.nyseagrant.org/forhire. And there's a link right there because if they just want to print them out and stick it on the book, there's actually print on demand on the web that they can print them out directly themselves and just put them up, you know, take them up on it as a poster or whatever they may want to do. So both ways they're available to folks.
[00:08:33] And we'll, of course, put those addresses on Fingerlakesdailynews.com in a little bit later, Dave, enjoy your day lakeside. And I'm jealous. But so far, the past few weeks have been pretty good for being out on the water. And let's hope it continues right through the summer without all those harmful algal blooms popping up to.
[00:08:58] Gotta watch them, they're gonna be the next thing, cause we're getting a lot of warm weather, a lot of dry weather, and as you and I have talked before, and I know you've talked with others,
[00:09:05] those are a couple of things that we begin to see them. So, you know, it's all about getting out on the water, you know, and when, you know, I just take ten seconds. Even when you hear about harmful algal blooms, remember harmful algal blooms, you're not an entire lake surface or an entire lake area. They're part of a resource. So, you know, you hear about where it might be, but, you know, go online, do it a little bit of extra research and you're gonna find in the Finger Lakes, someone may say, well, there's a harmful algal bloom on X Lake. Usually it might be just a part of the lakes or the rest of the lake is open. It's available. People can go out and enjoy it. And again, you know, take those safety precautions, but want to get people out on the lake, because that's why we live here and we want to really take advantage of enjoying that opportunity.
[00:09:44] Dave, as always, a pleasure. And we'll look forward to talking again soon.
[00:09:48] All right. Look forward to it. Steve, you have a great day.
[00:09:49] You, too. Dave White from New York Sea Grant has been our guest and it is 8:25 on the Finger Lakes Morning News.
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, University at 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, Instagram, 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.
