BURRILLVILLE – It’s opening season for fishing across the state of Rhode Island this weekend. Fishing season always begins on the second Saturday in April.
Li’l Skipper and Clam Cakes want to remind kids and families to always fish safely in boats. Always wear life jackets while boating, especially children. Make sure that life jackets are child-sized and not adult-sized to help prevent drowning. Life jackets that are too big for children could cause them to slip out and sink under the surface of the water. Stay calm while boating and avoid any activities that may cause a boat to flip on its side and submerge under the water surface. Stay seated. No moving around and playing in a boat. Keep children away from outboard motors on smaller fishing boats. Life jackets save lives and should be worn all of the time while fishing on a boat. There should be a life jacket onboard for every adult while boating.
This week’s Sunday feature is a coloring page taken from a 24-page coloring book that I created and published for the Rhode Island Department of Environmental Management Law Enforcement Division for water and boating safety community outreach efforts over the past two decades. The water and boating safety messages are very important and the Li’l Skipper and Clam Cakes cartoon characters are still as popular as ever with kids and families.
Stay safe while boating and fishing this season and always wear a life jacket kids!
Jim Weicherding is a Burrillville resident, and the founder and creator of an award-winning traffic safety effort Seasons of Safety. Weicherding contributes kids’ coloring cartoons, which can be printed and used to help parents discuss safety issues with their children. He has a long list of police officers and firefighters in his family and has worked with law enforcement and firefighters in a creative public safety capacity for more than two decades.
