Quote:
Originally Posted by thumper
Gotta spend their budgets even if there's nobody to check ! If you don't spend your budget allotment, it might get cut for next year!
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Actually Thumper, provincial funding cutbacks to AB's Aquatic Invasive Species Program occurred a couple years ago which meant the closure of the watercraft inspection stations along the AB/BC border. BC still inspects watercraft coming into their Province from AB (and the U.S.) as most mussel-fouled watercraft come from Ontario and Manitoba. However, the lack of AB watercraft inspection stations along the BC border doesn't help AENV prevent the importation of invasive plants like Eurasian Milfoil that grows in many Okanagan lakes! And you'd be surprised how many Albertan's inadvertently bring in these aquatic plants back to AB on return from vacation in BC.
Provincial funding only allows for hiring enough seasonal staff to cover major locations along the AB/US border and the number of these locations have been reduced during COVID border closures. Hence most resourcing goes to inspecting watercraft entering our province from Sask. The rest of the funding goes to paying for analysis of lake water samples for larval invasive mussels and deployment of trained sniffer dogs to some lakes where sampling does not occur. That's how the funding gets spent!!
FYI AENV had intercepted approximately 30 mussel-fouled last year and 18 fouled boats this season already. Mussel-fouled boats start entering the province in late winter with the return of snowbirds returning from the U.S. Many other boats come from eastern Canada through inter-provincial purchases (not traveling anglers) and these can happen anytime of the year.
Thankfully, we have arrangements and open lines of reporting with Montana, Idaho, and other U.S. States and with BC and Sask so we often know when and where mussel-fouled boats enter our province.