[OSMB-News] Op-Ed Article -Boating Fee for Invasive Species Prevention a Worthy Program

[Ashley Massey]

Opinion / Editorial Article

Boating Fee for Invasive Species Prevention a Worthy Program
By Randy Henry, Operations Policy Analyst for the Oregon State Marine
Board


Shortly after the end of the 2009 legislative session, several
editorials and news stories were published focusing on new fees and the
disruption they would cause in the lives of Oregonians. Certainly one of
those new fees will affect people who use motorized and non-motorized
boats to recreate on Oregon’s waters.
	
Briefly, the new fee will fund Oregon’s most aggressive effort yet to
prevent the spread of damaging invasive plants and animals in
waterbodies across Oregon. Some of the most serious threats lie just
outside our borders, like zebra and quagga mussels, and others like
Eurasian watermilfoil and New Zealand mud snails are already here,
choking fish habitat and clogging waterways.
 	
The Oregon State Marine Board is responsible for implementing the fees
as set in House Bill 2220, which creates and funds the Aquatic Invasive
Species Prevention Program in partnership with the Oregon Department of
Fish and Wildlife. Immediately after passage, questions began rolling
in: how much will I have to pay, and how will the funds be used? 
	
House Bill 2220 calls for all boats registered in Oregon - boats with
motors, and sailboats 12 feet and longer - to pay a $5 surcharge on
their boat registration. When you renew or register your boat beginning
in 2010 you will see a $5 increase in your registration fee. Your
registration decal is proof that you paid the permit fee. The permit is
not transferable to other watercraft. If your power boat is registered
outside of Oregon, you’ll pay a $20 non-resident permit fee to operate
on Oregon waters. 
	
People who own or operate paddle boats 10 feet or longer will purchase
a $5 permit each year. The legislation clearly states that once the
operator of a manually powered boat buys a permit, the operator can use
the permit with other manually powered boats. Because these watercraft
are not registered, a separate permit delivery system is now in
development. Starting in December, this permit will be available through
any of 500 ODFW license agents, 100 or so Marine Board registration
agents, over the Internet and at other select locations where
availability is limited. There are other programmatic details available
on our website at www.boatoregon.com. 
	
So why this fee, and why now? The driving force behind the legislation
was the introduction of small exotic freshwater mussels into Lake Meade
and the Colorado River basin in 2007. Zebra and quagga mussels are
incredibly destructive, nearly impossible to control, and pose hundreds
of millions of dollars in risk to Oregon’s hydroelectric power
generators, irrigators, municipal water supplies, fishing and fisheries
restoration efforts, general water-related recreation, not to mention
drastic changes to the ecology of the waterways once they’re
populated. The Great Lakes have experienced this since introduction in
the mid-1980s, and Lake Meade and other Colorado River reservoirs, dams,
water delivery systems and municipalities are experiencing it now. The
impact cannot be overstated.
	
Each month, another infested boat heads to or through Oregon. Other
state constitutions allow border inspections, but without a
constitutional amendment, we simply can’t do mandatory border
inspections in Oregon. Our current prevention efforts have, for the last
decade, been based on ad-hoc partnerships built on shoestring budgets,
good will and the hard work of state, federal and local governments,
private organizations and others to address the issue. Based on this
effort, many Oregonians understood the threat facing our state and urged
our Legislature to take definitive action.
	
So, in the final days of the session, when it was apparent that a
funding source would not be found to implement a larger prevention
program, the legislature directed the Marine Board and ODFW to implement
a funding effort and prevention program similar to what the State of
Idaho had done a couple months earlier, and what Utah and other states
were already doing. The funds will be used to establish five boat
inspection teams across the state, purchase mobile decontamination
equipment, provide training and direction for state and county law
enforcement, increase outreach and education dollars for signage and
other materials, and focus efforts in areas of greatest concern. These
teams will work fishing tournaments, heavily used boat ramps, community
events, border crossings in key areas, currently infested sites, and
they can be mobilized as needed should a serious infestation be
discovered. They will also take the message to boat and sport shows,
county fairs and other local venues.
	
While border inspection stations would probably be more effective, they
are also much more expensive. And while a fair number of boaters
aren’t thrilled with the new fee, the program is by far the most
significant effort this state has mustered to prevent or control aquatic
invasive species infestations.
	
In the end, the primary goal of this effort is to provide the tools and
knowledge, consistent with other states, to have people clean, drain and
dry their boats before each use. While zebra and quagga mussels are the
driving force behind the legislation, an educated fleet of recreational
boat owners will go far in preventing the further spread of damaging
invasive plants and animals already present in Oregon lakes. It will
also help prevent another “Diamond Lake,” where a prime fishery and
its economic benefit was lost to an invasive fish for an entire decade,
ending finally in 2006 with a complex $6 million restoration effort.
	
In short, the cost of prevention is far cheaper than the cost of
infestation. The money invested now - even if we’re not 100 percent
effective - will save millions later. This is knowledge gained from
other states that have been immersed in this issue for decades. It would
be a serious, short-sighted and expensive mistake to roll back the clock
on Oregon’s prevention efforts.

###
Randy Henry is the Operations Policy Analyst for the Oregon State
Marine Board and a former member of the Invasive Species Council. 
He’s also an outdoorsman who enjoys hunting, fishing and boating. 
He can be reached at randy.h.henry at state.or.us. 



Ashley A. Massey
Public Information Officer
Oregon State Marine Board
503-378-2623
503-378-8587 ext. 82623
ashley.massey at state.or.us

"Go with the flow...and don't fight the current."

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