Sailors will soon have a second cleaning station on the Sturgeon River to help them stop the spread of aquatic aliens.
The Alberta Invasive Species Council launched its Protect Our Waters campaign on July 16. The campaign urges Albertans to clean, drain, and dry their watercraft and equipment after use to stop the spread of aquatic invasive species.
Invasive aquatic creatures get around almost exclusively with the human help, hitching rides on boats and fishing gear, said Megan Evans, executive director for the council. By cleaning plants and mud off your boats and gear, draining them of water, and making sure they’re completely dry before using them in another water body, we can stop these aquatic aliens in their tracks.
“One of the biggest aquatic invasive species we’re trying to keep out are zebra and quagga mussels,” Evans said.
First spotted in the Great Lakes in the 1980s, these mussels are infamous for clogging pipes, covering beaches with razor-sharp shells, and taking over entire ecosystems, Evans said. They’re not in Alberta yet, but even a single mussel here could have devastating consequences — one mussel can lay up to a million eggs a year.
“They’re kind of public enemy No. 1.”
To crack down on these mussels, Evans noted that the Alberta government recently made it mandatory for anyone entering this province from the south or east to have their watercrafts inspected for invasive species before they can be used in local waters; failing to do so carries a $4,200 fine. Such inspections caught fifteen watercraft with invasive mussels last year, the province reports.
Boat station
Evans said her group installed a free boat-cleaning station in St. Albert near the gazebo by the Riel Recreation Park boat launch in late May as part of this latest campaign. The solar-powered station features brushes, tongs, and a shop-vac so users can clean, drain, and dry their boats, and is a permanent addition to the park. Sturgeon County’s Cardiff Trout Pond, the Astotin Lake launch in Elk Island National Park, and Edmonton’s Wilfred Laurier Park also received stations.
The St. Albert station was funded with cash from the federal Environmental Damages Fund, and has seen the most use out of any of the stations in the region, said City of St. Albert senior natural area asset specialist Melissa Logan. The city will host a similar but mobile boat-cleaning station at the Kingswood Park boat dock from July 25 to Aug. 27.
Logan said St. Albert has had encounters with many aquatic invaders in recent years, including goldfish, three-spined stickleback, Himalayan balsam, flowering rush, and crayfish (the last of which were in Lacombe Lake). City crews also have their eyes out for whirling disease in trout and Eurasian watermilfoil. She encouraged river-goers to use the boat-cleaning station on any and all equipment they use on the Sturgeon to keep these invaders from spreading.
Anyone who spots a suspected invasive plant or animal in St. Albert should call public works at 780-459-1500 or the Alberta aquatic invasive species hotline at 1-855-336-BOAT (2628). Information on invasive species is available at abinvasives.ca.
Anyone interested in taking direct action against invasive plants should check out the Weed Warriors event at the grain elevator site this July 30. Visit stalbert.ca/city/environment/programs-events/spruce-up/weed-warriors to register.
