Pay To Play Against The Rules

A man caught violating regulations that require boaters to allow their vehicles to be inspected by park staff was fined $2500 earlier this month. The rules are in place at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area in order to prevent the introduction of zebra and quagga mussels into Lake Powell, a man-made reservoir located in between Utah and Arizona.

Small Craft Advisory

KPBS in California is reminding listeners who might be thinking of heading out onto the water this Labor Day weekend to keep a mindful eye on their boating equipment. With the recent discoveries of both quagga and zebra mussels in their state, California boaters are being asked to keep their boats free of potential invasive species, and that means inspecting and cleaning them from trailer to hull. It also means thinking twice before jumping from one body of water to another - officials are asking boaters to instead wait five days between launching sites. Good advice for anyone with a boat or personal watercraft.

Clean Boat Clean Boat Clean Boat Redux

Hey, turns out that you still have a few days left if you want to submit a proposal for the BoatU.S. Clean Water Grants program. The deadline was actually Feb. 1st but due to an error on this website, the deadline has been extended until Feb. 8th (Get the background here). You've still got only a few days left, and BoatU.S. is asking any late-comers to use their electronic submission process. This year the grant program is specifically focused on invasive species issues, so if you're part of a U.S. non-profit volunteer organization interesting in receiving up to $4000 for "creative and innovative projects that teach boaters to reduce their impact on the waters they use for boating," get thee to the grant app, pronto! (This means you too, Anonymous ;-).)

Clean Boat Clean Boat Clean Boat...

...Hey, that wasn't that hard to say! :-)

If you live in the USA (well, mainland USA) and you are into boating, check out this cool contest from the Izaak Walton League of America. If you can correctly answer all four questions in their Clean Boat Challenge, you could win $2500 to spend at Bass Pro Shops. Also, if you are part of a non-profit organization aiming to help keep aquatic invasive species from spreading, check out the Boat U.S. Foundation's Clean Water Grants program (but hurry - deadline is Feb. 8th!). Longtime readers of the ISW may remember that Bass Pro Shops is the same company that offered a bounty on the Northern snakehead back in 2004.

(Tip of the virtual hat to BYM Product and Industry News for posting the press release.)

Ferry Bad Things

The Hawaii Superferry saga seems to just go on and on and on. The Honolulu Advertiser is covering the current hearings in Maui that will be the deciding factor in whether or not the ferry gets to resume service until an environmental impact assessment can be completed. A court order and bunches of angry protesters led to a shutdown of the ferry at the end of August. At issue, among other things, is that the ferry will be transporting invasive hitchhikers back and forth between the Hawaiian Islands. An expert testified that the chances of this were negligible when considered along with the many other marine transport vehicles that traverse Hawaiian waters. Before you decide whether he's right, it's worth reading through to the end of the article to get the details of the inspection protocols the ferry will be subject to - officials have taken a wide variety of possible invasive species pathways into consideration, from vehicles being transported on the ferry to the footwear of its passengers.

I'm not sure what the typical "cargo" of marine transport in Hawaii is, but it seems like regular transport of people and their vehicles opens up a whole new set of pathways beyond the whole ballast and hull-fouling issues. Note that an environmental assessment is typically done *beforehand* in situations like these, but the Superferry backers somehow managed to score an exemption from having any assessment done at all.

For more background about the Hawaii Superferry, check out this older article from the Honolulu Advertiser, or this article from the Molokai Dispatch (thanks to Michaek K. for sending those links in!)

Fair Is Foul, And Fouling Is Unfair

ABC News Australia has a report about an interesting new innovation in the world of anti-fouling mechanisms (you didn't think there was an entire world devoted to such things, did you!). "Fouling" refers to the process of organisms attaching to and accumulating on a surface, such as the hull of a ship, and can be a major vector for introducing marine and freshwater aquatic organisms into new environments.

An Australian scientist from the Defence Science and Technology Organisation of Australia has been studying the way that mollusks keep other organisms from settling on the outside of their shells to get inspiration for new anti-fouling technologies. He found that the surfaces of mollusk shells can be defined by a variety of fine microstructures that appear to have evolved to make it harder for organisms like algae and barnacles to grab hold. Some mollusks also release an antibacterial agent to keep bacteria from filling in the gaps in their textured surfaces, further preventing other organisms from settling there. He hopes to use his research to develop more effective (and less toxic) anti-fouling surfaces for the hulls of ships. The current norm in anti-fouling technology is to paint the hull of the ship with a compound that releases copper or other chemicals toxic to marine invertebrates, though less toxic alternatives are also available.

To Canada, With Love

According to this article from The Oregonian, Oregon wildlife officials spotted a suspicious trailered boat being transported up the coast and contacted the Washington State Patrol to warn them to check it. Their concerns were well-warranted: it turns out the boat was from Missouri, and the inspection revealed zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) encrusted under the engine. The boat was on its way to British Columbia...where the owners had also recently delivered yet another boat. This update from the Seattle Post Intelligencer notes that the infested boat was salvaged after it sank in a lake in the Midwest. It is odd that I cannot find any Canadian news sources covering this story - seems like it would be a big deal.

For more coverage of Dreissena mussels breaking the 100th Meridian barrier, click here.