The Flathead Basin Commission announced this past week that the first mussel fouled boats of the 2016 field season were detected at the Highway 93 Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Watercraft Inspection Station on April 1 in Pablo. According to a FBC press release, while Idaho, Oregon and Alberta intercepted mussel fouled boats earlier this field season, Montana had not intercepted any boats until this past Friday.

Caryn Miske, Executive Director of the Flathead Basin Commission, said Tuesday morning that many people are on their way back to Montana after spending the winter in Arizona. The boats were headed to Flathead Lake.

According to the press release, both of the fouled boats were coming from Lake Havasu, and the State of Arizona had notified Montana that mussels might be present on the engines and the hulls of the boats. Although the boats were decontaminated by the Arizona Game and Fish Department, both turned up in Montana still fouled with mussels. Erik Hanson, AIS Consultant for the Flathead AIS Work Group said, “Decontamination is not always 100 percent. It is critical for boats to be held after decontamination to ensure that they are actually mussel-free.” In many cases a second decontamination is necessary to ensure that mussel-fouled boats are safe to launch in Montana waters.

The 20-foot pontoon boat and 15-foot aluminum fishing boat were both in Lake Havasu for 2-3 months and were pulled out of that water body on March 28. “We often hear from boaters that the problem is the out-of-state boat owners,” said Ky Zimmerman, the Watercraft Inspector that detected the fouled boats along with his fellow inspector Joshua Cruz. “Yet in this case, both boat owners were Montana residents, showing that we all must be vigilant.” Both owners were extremely cooperative, and did not fully realize that the decontamination received in Arizona was inadequate.

Miske said that finding the mussels at this point in time shows that the stations need to be opened earlier in the season, “The hope is that if additional boats came through [before the station was open] they aren’t launched yet or are out of the water long enough to kill the mussels,” she said. She added that temperature and humidity play a part in how long the mussels can stay alive outside of water. “Very cold or very hot temperatures will make them not last as long,” she said.

The Flathead Basin Commission (FBC) operates the Highway 93 Station in partnership with, and funding from, the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes and Burlington Northern Santa Fe. “We pushed hard to get the station open early, and we finally obtained the necessary funding to open on March 30th,” said Miske. According to the release, since the Highway 93 Watercraft Inspection Station opened less than one week ago, 105 inspections have been completed, including 4 high-risk boat inspections.

The Highway 2 inspection station is operated by the FBC under the authority of Fish, Wildlife and Parks. The FBC will decontaminate the two mussel-fouled boats this week at the FWP Region I office. A hitch seal was placed on both boats on Friday to ensure that they would not be launched in Montana waters prior to decontamination. “FWP has been a great partner in our efforts to implement a pre-season inspection program,” said Miske.

The FBC and the Flathead AIS Work Group have long advocated for early season opening of the AIS Watercraft Inspection Stations. According to Miske, the detection of the fouled boats demonstrates the need for such early season operations as well as longer hours of operation.

The FBC was established by the Montana Legislature in 1983 to protect the water quality of the Flathead River drainage system. For more information, contact the FBC at 240-3453.