2486WA #2

National Fishing Week is underway and both the Canadian Safe Boating Council and the Ontario Conservation Officers Association want it to be a safe one.

Council director Ian Gilson says they have a request of anglers. “Just to remind them to wear their lifejackets, don’t just keep it in the boat, but to wear it.”

He says the styles of lifejackets are purpose-built these days, “you can cast, you can do all sorts of things and they won’t get in your way.”

Gilson says 80 percent of boating-related fatalities involve people not wearing their lifejackets.

He points out there were 102 in Canada last year, including 28 in Ontario.

That’s a statistic they’re working hard to reduce.