Ignorance Strikes Again: 4 Tips to Avoid Boating Strikes

 



Ignorance Stricks Again: 4 Tips to Avoid Boating Strikes


Boating has had a negative effect on marine mammals for years now and has been a large contributing factor to species such as manatees being placed on the ESA threatened species list. Our goal was to educate Florida boaters on how their careless boating practices can negatively affect marine life. In order to communicate this message to a local audience; we constructed a visually appealing and simplistic flyer with the goal of educating boaters on 4 easy ways to minimize their negative impact on marine life. We took these Flyers to three marinas in the area. Here we pitched our flyer and concerns with current ignorant boating practices to the marina worker. When speaking with marine workers we followed this general pitch: 

  


What choices were made

To educate through visual aids and not just word of mouth. We did this because a flyer can be taken with someone and could possibly be spread from person to person to gain the attention of a larger audience. We also chose a flyer because it allowed us to gain the attention of boaters who we did not differently speak with.


What changes in direction we made

Originally we had a much larger goal of completely changing Florida's boating laws. We soon learned that as three busy college students we would be unable to achieve this goal. With this, we had to step back and assess what it was that we really wanted to be done. In doing this we decided that it was important to us to do something that would have a positive effect on Florida marine life. We knew from researching the boating practices in Florida that boating strikes were a big issue. We then discovered that going to marinas and educating local boaters on how to limit their impact on marine life would be the most effective way for us to reach the initial goal of helping marine life impacted by boaters. Although we were not able to have as large an impact as we had hoped, we feel happy with our outcomes and ability to educate local boaters here in St. Petersburg.


Course concepts that contributed to the success of our communication

Pragmatic communication 

"Consists of verbal and nonverbal modes of interaction to convert an instrumental purpose" (Cox 2022). Basically stating what the communication wants us to do. We want the boaters to be more cautious and aware of how their boating affects marine life.

Environmental values 

"Values that are motivated by the care of a sentient being or ecosystem" (Cox 2022). We used people’s biospheric concerns when making our flyers by using sentient beings like dolphins and manatees to motivate safer boating practices.

Framing (Collective action framing)

Collective action framing "embodies three elements- a narrative that invites identity or solidarity among people attributes responsibility for a problem, and motivates people to take action" (Cox2022). We targeted a group of individuals who share a mutual appreciation for Florida’s waterways. We educated them on how careless boating practices can negatively affect the waterways in hopes that they will talk about education and participate in safer boating practices.


References:

ABA Boater Education Program`. State Boating Laws and Boating Education Requirements - American Boating Association. (n.d.). Retrieved April 18, 2022, from

https://americanboating.org/boateducation.asp 


Cox, R., & Pezzullo, P. (2022). Environmental communication and the Public Sphere (6th ed.). SAGE. 


FWC releases 2020 boating accident statistical report. Florida Fish And Wildlife Conservation Commission. (n.d.). Retrieved April 11, 2022, from

https://myfwc.com/news/all-news/boating-stats-521/ 


Hsieh, J. C. (2020, May 1). A study of recreational boating public interventions, regulations and accidents utilizing federal and State Data. Scholarship Home. Retrieved April 11, 2022, from https://jscholarship.library.jhu.edu/handle/1774.2/63873 







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