06-18-2009, 04:26 AM
So, I'm going to take the unpopular stance and put up a plug for the sticker. I have been to two all day aquatic invasive species trainings in the last few days for my job. the sticker was discussed a fair amount, and the hurried nature of it was addressed, as were some other logistical issues that have been talked about on here, which even they agreed were less than ideal to say the least. basically they are scrambling to get things like mandatory boat inspections and washes for all boats entering the state etc. set up, but to even begin to put together game plans they need funding, hence the scramble to get the stickers up and running.
The major impetus is to keep things like zebra and quagga mussels, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia (causes rediculous fish kills), out and controll the spread of things like eurasian water millfoil, new zeland mud snails, and whirling disease. In order to do this we all need to be aware of the situation, becuase even with the new funding, there is no way for them to check every boat so a lot of the responsibility lies with us. whenever we use our boats we need to make sure they don't carry anything to the next body of water, i.e. make sure no mussels or anything are clinging on to the nooks and crannies, empty live wells, clean felt soled boots etc. The hard thing is that I'm honestly probably preaching to the choir here. I think we're a pretty informed group of people on this forum, it's the ones who don't become educated on the issues, or just don't care that could screw things up for the rest of us.
Anyway what I'm trying to say is that I don't think the sticker money will be wasted, and it will go to set up some needed precautions. That said, I only had to buy a $5 one for my canoe [:/] so I couldn't really complain too much anyway. But that's my 2 cents for what it's worth, I'll climb back down off of my soap box now[crazy]
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The major impetus is to keep things like zebra and quagga mussels, and viral hemorrhagic septicemia (causes rediculous fish kills), out and controll the spread of things like eurasian water millfoil, new zeland mud snails, and whirling disease. In order to do this we all need to be aware of the situation, becuase even with the new funding, there is no way for them to check every boat so a lot of the responsibility lies with us. whenever we use our boats we need to make sure they don't carry anything to the next body of water, i.e. make sure no mussels or anything are clinging on to the nooks and crannies, empty live wells, clean felt soled boots etc. The hard thing is that I'm honestly probably preaching to the choir here. I think we're a pretty informed group of people on this forum, it's the ones who don't become educated on the issues, or just don't care that could screw things up for the rest of us.
Anyway what I'm trying to say is that I don't think the sticker money will be wasted, and it will go to set up some needed precautions. That said, I only had to buy a $5 one for my canoe [:/] so I couldn't really complain too much anyway. But that's my 2 cents for what it's worth, I'll climb back down off of my soap box now[crazy]
[signature]