In recent years, the number of Mainers who die of drowning has been on the rise and above national averages.

So with the summer boating season under way, doctors and law enforcement officials alike are urging boaters to be extra careful. Alcohol, a lack of safety equipment or even hypothermia can claim a life during Maine summers.

In 2000 alone, the U.S. Coast Guard reported more than 7,000 boating accidents in the United States, which resulted in more than 4,000 injuries and 700 deaths. Most fatal accidents are caused when a boater is thrown overboard, and 80 percent of these drowning victims are not wearing life jackets, according to the Prevent Injuries America Program.

Experts offer recreational boaters the following advice:

. Wear a personal flotation device at all times, regardless of your age and swimming ability,

. When changing seats, stay low and near the center of the boat to avoid capsizing.

. Before heading out on the water, tell someone where you’re going and when you plan to return.

. Drop anchor only off the bow, never the stern or the side, and motor upstream of the anchor before retrieving it.

Sweet reward

Children who know their water safety rules will have the opportunity to win McDonald’s sundaes as law enforcement officers rev up the sixth year of their award-winning Flotation Citation program.

The restaurant has donated 9,000 gift certificates good for a free dessert, which game wardens and marine patrol officers will be awarding to children age 12 and younger whom they spot wearing life jackets.

“Life jackets save lives, so we want to encourage children to wear [them] whenever they are out on the water,” Col. Tim Peabody of the Maine Warden Service said.

Children under age 10 are required to wear a life jacket at all times while boating or water-skiing in Maine. Adult boaters are required to have a lifejacket handy in case of an emergency, under Maine law.

Lake invasion

As hot weather and school vacation encourage thousands to get out on their favorite lake or river, Maine is stepping up its battle against invasive aquatic plants such as milfoil.

All fresh-water boaters are required to purchase and post a special registration sticker on their vessels, with the proceeds marked for a fund that will be used for plant control efforts. By posting the sticker, boaters are in essence pledging that they have inspected their hull and motor and found the boat to be plant-free.

Beginning this month, officials from the Department of Environmental Protection and the Maine Warden Service will also be conducting boat and equipment inspections throughout southern and central Maine.

The most intensive inspections are planned for Messalonskee Lake in Belgrade, where an infestation of variable leaf milfoil has been found. Other bodies of water that are considered risky will also host random boat inspections.

“We hope that a targeted full-court press on education will prove to be the most cost-0effective risk management strategy,” David Van Wie of the DEP said.

GoMOOS

Red sky at night, sailor’s delight. Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.

Today’s outdoor recreation requires a bit more precision than the old rhyme, and a new free Web site offering crucial information about ocean conditions hopes to become the source for Maine sailors, kayakers and fishermen.

The Gulf of Maine Ocean Observing System, located at www.gomoos.org, provides data about wind speed and direction, air and sea temperature and oceanographic conditions far below the surface of the Atlantic. Last year, 10 computer-equipped buoys were placed in the gulf between Gloucester, Mass. And Saint John, New Brunswick. New measurements are taken hourly and posted on the GoMOOS Web site.

“Advanced observing systems like GoMOOS are critical to the nation because they enhance our ability to make better decisions about life and safety while providing significant economic benefits,” Vice Admiral Conrad Lautenbacher Jr., of the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said.

Misty Edgecomb is the outdoor reporter for the NEWS. Items for publication in the Outdoor Notebook may be submitted to her at medgecomb@bangordailynews.net or P.O. Box 1329, Bangor, Maine, 04402.