That message comes from Lifesaving Society Manitoba during their Hooked on Lifejackets campaign. Water Smart Coordinator Doctor Christopher Love says it’s especially important to talk about in Manitoba, as most people who die during a boating accident are not wearing a lifejacket.  He explains we unfortunately push above our weight in terms of comparison to the national average when we’re talking about boating deaths.  He notes nationally approximately 80 percent of all boating fatalities are not wearing a lifejacket and here in Manitoba in the period they have stats for it was 86 percent that the boating fatalities were not wearing a lifejacket and that’s an extremely significant number whether you’re looking just at Manitoba or nationally.  He says if we’re talking at the national level that could eliminate over a hundred deaths annually if people simply picked up their lifejacket, put it on and wore it the entire time they were in the boat.

Love adds about 50 per cent of all boats sold in Canada are purchased with fishing as the main use of the boat and part of the reason why boating deaths involve a significant number of fishers is that those who fish don’t consider themselves boaters, so they don’t make boating safety top of mind when they’re out on the water.