On behalf of the fabulous Foundation crew, I hope you enjoy reading about the accomplishments of 2015 found in this Annual Report. The boating community is ever evolving, and the Foundation has done quite a bit of evolving in 2015. From the launch of several new online courses, to testing the latest in Visual Distress Signaling (VDS) devices, to sponsoring a truly remarkable Life Jacket Design Competition, the Foundation continues to move forward to meet the ever changing needs of America’s boaters.

The Foundation touches hundreds of thousands of boaters every year with positive ways to keep our waters clean and to enjoy boating safely. Our programs are funded primarily through small donations from boaters like you. I hope that as you read this Annual Report, you can see the value in our programs and make the choice to help support our safe and clean boating mission.

Regards,
Chris

Chris Edmonston

BoatUS Foundation President

Free Boating Safety Course Improvements

2015 saw the expansion of our formal marine debris prevention efforts expand beyond our fishing line recycling program with the help of two grants.

Partnering with two TowBoatU.S. towers and with funding from the NOAA Marine Debris program, the Foundation will remove derelict commercial fishing nets that have become entangled on reef structure offshore from Ocean City, MD. This work will be done in partnership with TowBoatU.S. Ocean City. We will also work with TowBoatU.S. South Shore (Ohio) to remove a sunken commercial fishing vessel with attached net. Both project sites are sensitive habitat with the Lake Erie site located just outside two National Wildlife Refuges and a State Park. We are aiming to highlight how our partnerships with TowBoatU.S. salvage resources can be a very cost effective public/private/nonprofit partnership solution to the challenge of large debris removal. BoatUS Foundation staff will be onsite for both efforts filming and interviewing stakeholders. This footage will be used to produce educational outreach materials.

Additionally the BoatUS Foundation received a grant from the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation’s Fishing for Energy Program, (add logos for NOAA, NFWF, Schnitzer Steel, Covanta Energy) to explore the relationship between recreational boater and the loss of commercial fixed fishing gear such as crab and lobster pots. At regional marine debris workshops around the country BoatUS Foundation staff heard that recreational boaters were often cited as one of the primary causes for commercial fishing gear becoming cut or lost. To further examine this problem we will be conducting focus groups around the country to look at this user conflict between recreational boaters and commercial fishing interests. Based on the results of the focus groups, BoatUS Foundation staff will develop educational messages to prevent the entanglement of fishing gear. These messages will be included in our free online course and provided to groups who teach in person boating safety courses.

At the BoatUS Foundation we are fortunate to have a loyal base of BoatUS members who support us when they renew their membership.

In recent years we have been looking into ways to better manage our donor communications which we hope to invest in soon. In May of 2015 we mailed out our first Boating Safety Week appeal requesting a small donation to help support our Free Online Boating Safety Course. Although our course is free, it isn’t free to operate. As a premium, a newly re-designed Rules of the Road Decal was included so they could keep for themselves or to give a friend new to boating. Giving Tuesday is also growing in popularity and the Foundation has had good success in asking boaters to support our charitable cause on this national day of giving.