Washington State Boaters Aid Prevention of Invasive Species

As 2019 came to a wrap, Washington State Department of Fish and Wildlife announced that the state had a record year for prevention efforts of aquatic invasive species. These species - that includes zebra and quagga mussels, aquatic plants, fish and amphibian diseases - can cause negative impacts on water quality, native wildlife, power and irrigation systems and even recreational opportunities.

"We're very proud of the efforts that were accomplished over the last year with the number of watercraft that were inspected coming into the state," said Allen Pleus, aquatic invasive species manager.

WDFW inspected over 32,000 watercrafts in 2019 and detected 18 vessels carrying invasive mussels along with 1,200 vessels that failed to meet the clean, drain, dry requirements. The agency also took over 3,500 early detection monitoring samples at 118 water bodies in the state in 2019 as well.

"We have a really broad range of activities that we conduct in order to prevent invasive species from becoming established in the state and some of that is early detection monitoring," said Pleus.

WDFW and partners use data from these inspections to conduct a risk analysis of the state's waters that will guide future monitoring to the most susceptible bodies of water.