Coast Guard launches If Found sticker initiative

“If Found” sticker Submitted photo

If Found labels, designed specifically for non-registered watercraft, are available at marine-related locations throughout the area as well as many post offices and town offices in the mid-coast area, according to a news release from U.S. Coast Guard Auxiliary Public Affairs in Boothbay Harbor.

The bright orange stickers have a water-resistant adhesive and are best filled in using a “laundry” marker, paint marker or a Sharpie.

People can fill in their name and contact information, along with contact info for someone ashore who may know their whereabouts in case they are a “person in the water.”

The free stickers can help save millions of taxpayer dollars each year; get a person’s paddle board, kayak or dinghy back if it goes missing; and possibly help someone get rescued if their unoccupied paddle-craft is located and they are in the water somewhere else.

For information of how to get free If Found stickers, as well as how to get a paddle craft, sail or power boat a free multi-point safety inspection, visit flotilla25.org or USCGAUX.org.