Campaign reminds of risks on the water

RECREATIONAL boaters risking their lives on the water are the target of a new advertising campaign, with only 3 per cent servicing their inflatable life jackets often enough.

Marine and Safety Tasmania’s campaign, Be Boatwise, There Are No Second Chances, features Tasmanian fishing identities Nick Duigan and Andrew Hart.

It targets servicing of life jackets, being weatherwise and buying unseaworthy secondhand boats.

There are between 75,000 and 85,000 inflatable life jackets in Tasmania and the state boasts a high compliance rate with 94 per cent of people wearing one on the water. However, only 2500 are serviced regularly.

“Tragically, in recent fatalities which have occurred in Tasmania, some of the people who died were wearing inflatable life jackets that did not work as expected or had not been serviced,” MAST chief executive Lia Morris said.

She said the Christmas and Easter periods were when the majority of boating deaths occurred.

Mr Hart, co-host of TV show Hook, Line and Sinker, said the risk was a life jacket would not inflate when needed.

“No one expects to need their life jacket so if you do end up in the water in your inflatable and you go to pull it and it doesn’t go off, it’s absolutely useless,” he said.

“When a problem happens, it happens very quickly.”

Mr Hart said manufacturers had guidelines on how often a life jacket needed to be serviced but he recommended doing it annually.

Mr Hart also said those buying a second-hand boat should be prepared to put in the time and money to make sure it is safe.