The Wednesday, June 16 article by Terry Knight, Lake County”s resident outdoors chronicler, extolled the high compliance of boaters to Lake County”s quagga mussel inspection program. Bully for Knight for keeping the issue in front of the public. Unfortunately it was a tad misleading and unbalanced. I came away with the impression that the local program was successful rather than just a copy of Eastern states” programs that have not been shown to be successful. The message should be that Lake County”s program is further ahead of the other California counties but there is still very significant risk of introduction and we must beef up the effort. One missed contaminated boat and our inspection effort would be meaningless. Let”s wait until compliance is 100 percent and the risk is zero before patting anyone on the back without the rest of the story.
The fact is that Eastern Great Lakes states have a significantly greater effort than California in place to stop the spread from the Great Lakes to smaller vulnerable lakes. The introductions have continued to take place in high-visitor lakes but at a slower rate. The federal 100th meridian program, designed to educate boaters and keep the spread of mussels from east of the 100th meridian, was a failure. Lake Mead was contaminated only a few years after the program started. Recently, a Lake Mead pontoon boat bound for Clear Lake was intercepted by the understaffed Cal Fish and Game which found quagga mussels attached. Good for DFG, very lucky for us.
If that boat had made its way to Lake County, how likely would it be discovered before launch? Despite the 100th meridian program, boaters still show up at California”s border inspection stations contaminated with invasive species. It”s hard to imagine 100-percent border success even if they could inspect 100 percent of the boats, because of the small mussel size, its attach anywhere habit and the volunteer inspection request for boats crossing at non-inspection station highways. Approaching Lake County, hopefully the boat owner will see the large, highway-located, red, inspection required signs and find someone to inspect the boat who knows where to look (or recognize one if they saw it). Not a 100-percent probability. I”ve talked to several people at the local launch ramp who didn”t even see the warning sign right next to them and knew nothing of the issue. But then, boat screeners aren”t required to leave their building to look at the boat.
Even a cursory review of the Lake County program would find that the $100 fine is too low to get anyone”s attention. Maybe that”s why Knight reported that fees added $350 to the total. The $100 fine is $900 less than littering the highway and the consequences to the county”s lake ecosystem, property values, tax base, fishing economy and water pumping costs are in the millions lost compared to the cost of picking up after a road slob. Having a resident sticker does not prevent the boat from visiting other waters and returning without an inspection. I”ve talked to my neighbors and found most very ignorant of the issue. They are only thankful that their boat is exempt. Even if you count success as having an inspection band, the sheriff”s boat patrol could only find 79 non-compliant boats in 18 months of the program. Hard to believe based on an unbiased assessment of non-stickered boats throughout any given week of looking. Let”s not group-think ourselves into believing we will prevent the introduction of the many possible invasive species with the current level and quality of effort. Not until it”s 100 percent effective.
Jim Steele is a Lake County resident and a retired Fish and Game branch chief and environmental scientist.
