- This year’s key message is the importance for boaties to carry and use lifejackets and distress beacons.
- Maritime authorities will collaborate on a range of promotional and educational activities to raise awareness among boaties with the aim of reducing fatalities.
Maritime Safety Queensland (MSQ) will join other Australian and New Zealand maritime authorities in a week-long campaign to remind recreational and professional mariners of the importance of lifejackets and distress beacons.
Starting tomorrow and ending on 6 October, the campaign will form the centrepiece of National Safe Boating Week as governments strive to reduce the national death toll from boating incidents.
Maritime authorities regard lifejackets and distress beacons (commonly know as EPIRBs) as essential safety equipment for boaties, particularly when venturing offshore.
Distress beacons can quickly alert search and rescue authorities to the precise location of mariners in distress, while lifejackets can keep people afloat until rescued.
In Queensland in 2022, failure to wear lifejackets was a factor in 80 per cent of boating fatalities. Thirteen of the 15 fatalities were people who drowned or were lost at sea, and of these 13, only one was wearing a lifejacket.
It is compulsory in Queensland for vessels voyaging beyond smooth or partially smooth waters, or more than two nautical miles from land in open waters, to carry a distress beacon.
The week will conclude with ‘Wear Your Lifejacket to Work Day’ on 6 October to help debunk the myth that lifejackets are uncomfortable or cumbersome to wear.
