KINGSBRIDGE Police are holding a Marine Awareness Day in Salcombe to promote marine crime prevention and safety on the water.

The event, to be held at Whitestrand car park, Salcombe, on April 22, will run from 9am to 4pm. It will feature many organisations involved in marine safety and crime prevention, including National Coastwatch, RNLI, Devon Air Ambulance, the Police Diving Team, the Harbour Office, Kingsbridge Boat Watch, Salcombe Security Solutions and the Police Beat Team.

Police superintendent Claire Armes will be there to judge a poster competition, with the theme of marine crime prevention, between Salcombe Primary School

and Malborough Primary School.

The winner will have their design made into a professionally made poster that will be displayed around the estuaries in Kingsbridge and Salcombe. Also, Woodlands theme park has kindly donated a two-person day pass for the prize.

The RNLI and the Police Diving Team will hopefully have their boats available for the public to board and look around – so long as they are not on a lifesaving call, of course – and people will be able to meet and talk to members of the emergency services and get some advice on the ways to stay safe on the water and prevent equipment being stolen.

PC Jo Pengilly, who organised of the event, said: 'Marine crime levels are very low and they've dropped significantly over the past 20 years, but we want to keep it down.

'We have teams patrolling on the water, as do Kingsbridge Boat Watch, the Harbour Patrol and other organisations, but the first line of defence are boat owners.

'From March onwards, the season starts with people putting their boats on the water after the winter, and boat owners need to be aware of, and are encouraged to report, thefts from boats. Many do go unreported. Simple things, such as not leaving navigation equipment, fuel or removable outboard engines on the boat, reduce thefts. An outboard motor may be heavy and unwieldy, but they've been known to be taken off boats by determined criminals.

'Speeding and antisocial behaviour on boats are also an issue that we'd like to educate people about. The speed limit at the beginning of the estuary is around walking pace; this increases past the bar, but you're still controlled by the speed limit until quite far out. This is for safety reasons – big bow waves can cause chaos.'

The event is planned to be a fun and informative day for both adults and children.