| OSMB News |
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| Boaters Asked to 'Never Launch a Dirty Boat' |
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For Immediate Release Date: May 9, 2007
Having a dangerous invasive species - one that likes to hitch a ride on trailer boats - just across Oregon ’s southeastern border is more than a cause for concern. “It’s a call to action,” says Randy Henry, policy and planning analyst for the Oregon State Marine Board. “We desperately need boaters to take this problem serious ly, or we’ll be living with some very expensive and damaging consequences.”
This particular, unwanted aquatic invasive species is a quagga mus sel, a native of the Caspian Sea but now found in Nevada, Arizona and California in the reservoirs and canals of the Colorado River. Quagga mus sels, and their close relative the zebra mus sel, have cost the public billions of dollars and damaged vast ecosystems across the Midwest and Great Lakes.
“Boaters are the key to successfully halting the spread of quagga mussels,” says Henry. “We have to understand that our boats provide the ride for aquatic hitchhikers. One boat launched in a lake or river with an invasive aquatic species aboard could devastate a water body by degrading water quality and destroying the fishery. We saw this at Diamond Lake in the Cascades when tui chub were illegally introduced. Years of planning and drastic measures were required to restore the lake to health. State and federal agencies spent nearly six million dollars on the project and the healing process will take several years.”
According to Jim Gores, invasive species coordinator for the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, commercial ships first transported quagga and zebra mussels to the Great Lakes in the early 1990s in ship ballast water. The mussels are spreading across the US, often with the help of recreational watercraft. “We thought zebra mussels would be the big concern in Oregon, but then divers found quagga mussels in Lake Mead in January,” says Gores. “They’re both a problem because they colonize fresh water in dense mats, smothering native plants and animals, filtering out the food and altering the ecosystem. One dirty boat and our efforts to recover salmon and steelhead populations could be even more complicated than before, and at a cost of hundreds of millions of dollars. That’s a direct impact that most boaters will feel.”
All boaters must make sure they don’t launch a boat that’s been exposed to any infested waters – at least not before sterilizing the watercraft. “We’re still waiting for results, but it’s possible that a number of lakes and reservoirs across Nevada were inoculated with quagga mussels in 2006,” says Henry. “We know that many people fish in Nevada and Oregon waters in the same season, so the potential is there.” Henry and Gores, who routinely work together on aquatic invasive prevention issues, offer simple advice for people who have boated in waters infested by any type of invasive aquatic plant or animal, especially zebra or quagga mussels.
- Keep a clean boat: After boating in any waterbody – especially in Nevada, Arizona, Utah or any state east of the Rocky Mountains, clean your boat and gear thoroughly.
- All equipment such as dive gear, boats, trailers and motors should be visually and tactilely (by feel) inspected for the presence of mussels prior to and after use in any water body. Additionally, any vegetation attached to this equipment must be removed and left at the site of origin or discarded in a waste can.
- Drain and flush your bilge, live well, bait buckets and any other compartments that hold standing water. If you recently boated in infested waters, flush areas of standing water with hot water (140° F) or a solution of 1 cup bleach to a gallon of water. Do this away from any waterbody or slope above a waterbody.
- Clean and scrub boat hulls, motors, anchors and trailers, then hose equipment with hot (140° F) and/or high-pressure water.
- After a thorough washing, all boat equipment should be allowed to remain completely dry for at least 24 hours before being used again. If a thorough washing isn’t available, clean as best you can and allow boat to air dry for at least five days with all compartments open.
Mus sels can live in a dark, damp compartment for up to 27 days. In addition to quagga or zebra mus sels, keeping your boat clean will prevent the spread of numerous other invasive species, such as hydrilla, milfoil, New Zealand mud snails and others. “Of course, it is illegal to transport live fish – for bait or any other purpose – from one waterbody to another,” warns Henry. “Many of Oregon ’s most famous fishing waters suffer from aquatic invasive species. Jus t dumping one bait bucket can destroy a fishery, create tremendous health and environmental problems, and cost millions of dollars to treat or even control.”
In a nutshell, says Henry, “Never launch a dirty boat. It’s really that easy.”
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| Did you boat in Nevada or Arizona in 2006? |
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The Oregon State Marine Board has a simple question for Oregon boaters: Did you run your boat in Nevada, Arizona or east of the Rocky Mountains in the past 12 months?
“This is something we’d like to know for statistical purposes,” said Randy Henry, Policy Planning Analyst for the Oregon State Marine Board. “With the advent of quagga mussels in Lake Mead and other waters of Nevada and Arizona, we would like to gauge the potential exposure to Oregon ’s waters.”
Henry says the Marine Board surveys boaters every three years for statewide boat use information, but doesn’t check out-of-state use. “We have no idea what kind of risk we really face here,” says Henry. “Do people boat in Wildhorse Reservoir in Nevada one day and then pop across the border to fish Oregon? This information would help us with our education and outreach as we attempt to prevent infestations of aquatic nuisance species.”
An anonymous survey form is available on line at Aquatic Nuisance Species Survey for people willing to participate. “We will not tie this information to individual boaters,” said Henry. “It’s just information we don’t have that would be very useful for planning purposes.”
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