Marina Dock Age

The Wyoming Game and Fish Department has checked more than 21,000 boats for invasive zebra and quagga mussels since inspections began under emergency regulations in late May. Gov. Dave Freudenthal made those regulations permanent in July when he signed into law a new state aquatic invasive species management plan, according to a July 30 Star Tribune report.

Beth Bear, Game and Fish invasive species program coordinator, said most boaters are getting the message about the new regulations, which includes agency inspections of watercraft prior to launching in most of the state’s major lakes and reservoirs.

The state also requires boaters in Wyoming to purchase and display an aquatic invasive species decal before launching watercraft. All fees collected from the decal sales go to help fund inspection and education efforts. Bear estimated about 73 percent of registered boat owners have purchased the decal.

Wyoming lawmakers allocated $1.5 million in February to fund an effort to prevent mussels from getting into the state. Zebra and quagga mussels, which are about the size of a fingernail and will attach to anything underwater, have been found in Utah and Colorado. So far, Wyoming has fended off infestation.

Through inspections, the Fish and Game Department have decontaminated 13 boats suspected of harboring mussel species into Wyoming. These included three boats with actual mussels attached, which came from Nevada’s Lake Mead where mussels were found in 2007.

In June, the agency approved a final state management plan to deal with the threat of mussels. The plan outlines the prevention, dispersal, education and research efforts the state will use to combat the mussels.

Bear said Wyoming will continue to sample its waters as part of the program. “The goal is to find that larva stage and catch it as early as you possibly can before you start to see adults,” she said. “So we’re trying to get a good handle on what we might have out there with this monitoring.”

Bear also said through the state’s inspections, it is seeing a lot of boats that are clean, drained and dried. “We just been really pleased with the response from boaters,” she said.