By Ed Calkin
The Record-Bee has been covering the mussel exposure recently. This is good, as awareness is key to prevention. It is also frustrating to those who realize we have done little to prevent them from getting here. Our “mussel task force” has tried to implement a plan to combat this threat while trying to please everyone. Many have complimented the “excellent job” they are doing. I conclude they have accomplished little to stop the threat, while acknowledging they have made a great effort.
The economy of Lake County will be severely impacted by these mussels getting into our lake. The ecology of the lake will change forever. Property values will plummet. A financially challenged county will become a financially ruined county as tourism will all but go away. Lake water users will see their costs soar. We can only hope to keep them out until an eradication treatment is available.
We have known of this threat for years. Initial (2005) reactions were that Lake County did not need to be saddled with another negative marketing image (i.e. algae, weeds and mussels), so it was kept low key. When the threat increased many correctly assumed the state should be the first responder. Finally (2007), the BOS initiated the task force to ensure that we did everything possible to protect our lakes and economy when it was obvious the state was not stepping up to the task. While public awareness is at a much greater level than it was, concrete actions to prevent the mussels from getting here have been discussed at length but have not happened. We are at risk as much today as we were two years ago.
A couple of examples: a friend went to a resort to get stickers for a visitor”s boat on Memorial Day. There was no attempt to determine where the boat was from or what the risk level was, there was no discussion of the importance of the program, no focus on the affidavit or personal commitment ? no sense of urgency whatsoever. It was just a transaction, sign here, give us $10 and here are your stickers. No prevention. Many wakeboard boats visit us from Southern California and many of them have ballast tanks to make them heavier and enlarge wakes. Those ballast tanks always have some water in them and can contain live mussels or velegers for months. To this day we do not treat ballast tanks when these boats go into Clear Lake and fill and dump their tanks (a small amount of Clorox would suffice). Therefore, after countless hours of effort and discussion, our lake remains unprotected.
What could be done to prevent or minimize the threat:
1) Close the lake to out-of-county boats. Most effective but not acceptable due to the impact on the economy. Other California lakes have done this.
2) Stop all boats on roadways accessing the county to force inspection and treatment of at-risk boats. Not feasible nor affordable.
3) Stop all at-risk boats from entering the lake by controlling all launch ramps. Not feasible nor affordable (Tahoe has a plan like this).
4) A sticker plan to ensure that every user of our lake has signed an affidavit stating that he or she acknowledges the risk and personally assumes the responsibility to ensure that they do not spread mussels into Lake County could be very effective and is affordable. Significant penalties defined for failure to sign the affidavit and display the sticker ($1,000?) and significant legal action to anyone proven to have exposed the lake to mussels (e.g. $10,000 and loss of boat or ?) are key. Such a program that was enforced and had publicity through boating periodicals would put users of Clear Lake on notice that they better manage the mussel risk. This is the basis of our current effort. Unfortunately, we haven”t publicized it, have no meaningful fines, nor have we enforced it. As implemented it has very low effectiveness, properly implemented it could be much more effective.
The purpose of this assessment is not to criticize nor compliment the effort by many to protect the lake from these invaders. The purpose is to provide an overview of the results. To date, effectiveness has been very poor. To make the hard decisions to implement and enforce a program that puts the responsibility on the visiting boat owners takes strong leadership and follow through with meaningful fines. We have neither. We sorely need both.
Ed Calkin
Kelseyville
