Press Releases

Industry Organizations Show Support for ‘Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day’
June 12th Event Created to Grow the Boating & Fishing Lifestyle
Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day

ALEXANDRIA, VA (May 3, 2010) – Industry organizations are recognizing the value of Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day and are offering support to help to promote this new event, which will take place at 10 marinas across the country on Saturday, June 12, 2010. Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the Green Gallon Project, the National Safe Boating Council (NSBC), the Recreational Powerboating Association (RPBA), the Thetford Corporation and West Marine are contributing time and materials. The American Recreation Coalition (ARC), Boating Writers International (BWI) and Bonnier Marine Group are promoting the events in their various media channels.

“Our members tell us overwhelmingly that the reason they are boaters today is because they either grew up in a boating family, or had a friend who took them boating,” said BoatUS Vice President of Program Development Michael Pellerin. “Now it’s up to us to share the tradition of spending quality time on the water,” he added.

Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day is being hosted and promoted by the Association of Marina Industries (AMI), the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA) and the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF). The events will allow consumers the opportunity to participate in boating and fishing demonstrations and educational activities, test drive boats and more.

“We’re delighted that industry organizations are taking advantage of this opportunity to motivate people to get involved in the boating lifestyle and educate them about all of its many activities,” said AMI Legislative Coordinator Wendy Larimer.

Event organizers say they are pleased with the support they’ve received so far, but still need boats at some of the locations for on-the-water demos.

“The 10 marinas will feature a variety of boating activities and many are open to conducting boat demos,” said NMMA Marketing and Communications VP Carl Blackwell. “It’s exciting to see the industry in these challenging times come together to support an event that will help us facilitate getting more people out to the marinas and on the water.” 

The event’s supporting partners are helping in a variety of ways:

  • BoatUS is incorporating announcements and releases in BoatUS media and direct messages to their more than half a million members. They are also providing bags, lanyards and literature for attendees, and offering BoatUS memberships, canvas totes and Type V throw cushions to raffle off. BoatUS is inviting their TowBoatUS and Vessel Assist operators to attend the events with their boats and equipment, and will work with the BoatUS Foundation to provide safety and environmental literature for attendees.
  • Green Gallon Project is providing written materials, brochures, stickers and signage to each participating marina. They will also promote the events on their Web site. 
  • NSBC will promote the events to their members during National Safe Boating Week with e-mail blasts, Web site and social marketing page updates. They will also provide free Wear It! campaign brochures, stickers and posters for attendees and personnel will do inflatable life jacket demos for some of the events.
  • RPBA will provide on-water boating education and training at the Baltimore, Lake Lanier and Miami events.
  • Thetford Corporation will provide a bucket full of “green” products to each marina to raffle, their green products catalog and green tips brochures. They will also promote their involvement through all of their communication channels and provide staff for as many sites as possible to do green cleaning demos on-site. 
  • West Marine will provide each marina with gift cards for raffle.

In addition, several message partners are spreading the word about Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day. For example, ARC has issued a few press announcements about the events. They are also going to list each marina as a site for National Get Outdoors Day on their Web site. BWI published articles in their March and April BWI Journal asking their members to include information on the promotion in their columns, blogs and editors letters. And the Bonnier Marine Group has committed to running print public service announcements in their publications.
For more information visit BoatFishLive.com. Please e-mail questions to info@boatfishlive.com.

Contacts:
Wendy Larimer, AMI, 202-350-9623, wlarimer@marinaassociation.org
Stephanie West, RBFF, 703-778-5156, swest@rbff.org

About ‘Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day’
Boat. Fish. Live. At National Marina Day is an all-industry effort to grow the boating and fishing lifestyle and get more people out on the water. Hosted and promoted by the Association of Marina Industries (AMI), the Boat Owners Association of The United States (BoatUS), the National Marine Manufacturers Association (NMMA), the Recreational Boating & Fishing Foundation (RBFF) and several others, 10 marinas across the country will officially kick off boating and fishing season with events where consumers can participate in boating and fishing demonstrations and educational activities, test drive boats and more. For more information visit BoatFishLive.com.