WESTMINSTER — When you hear the word “exotic,” you think of faraway places, different cultures, or unusual food - unless, of course, you are considering exotic flora or fauna.
Then, from an ecological point of view, “exotic” has a decidedly negative connotation.
The way exotic species get from one place to another is by a vector, defined as a carrier or a bearer. In most cases, the vector is human. There are no treatments once exotics are in our waters. Preventing the spread of exotics is our only useful tool.
As we begin the boating season, the Connecticut River Watershed Council is asking all boaters to help protect the Connecticut River from invasions of exotic plants and animals.
Boaters, whether power boaters, canoers, or sail enthusiasts, are all possible vectors for the spread of aquatic plants and animals, so boaters (and fishers) have a special responsibility to protect the aquatic habitat of the Connecticut River. Being responsible is not a difficult task.
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When plant or fish exotics establish themselves in a new habitat, they crowd out native species. They also create problems for humans: just ask anyone living on a waterbody where Eurasian milfoil or water chestnut has taken hold and choked the lake.
We also face a potential invasion of the infectious virus viral hemorrhagic septicemia (VHS), with one scary false report last year from Lake Champlain.
VHS has the potential to kill fish by the thousands. Because of the three-year incubation period, the virus is unknowingly spread by moving seemingly healthy fish from one water body to another. Fishers should heed the restrictions on moving untested, uncertified bait fish, including those you net yourself, between water bodies.
If you buy bait, know where it came from, what species it is, and whether it is a native to the body of water where you are fishing.
The introduction of the wrong species of bait fish into a water body can have devastating effects on the resident fish; smelt from Lake Champlain are our latest invasion. Smelt are a bait fish eaten by the top predators, but the smelt lack certain nutrients necessary for successful spawning of those predator fish.
Three years ago, we discovered the invasive algae Didymosphenia geminata, better known as “didymo,” or “rock snot,” in the northern Connecticut River. Didymo has since spread to several new rivers, and in each, it can destroy river bottom habitat and make our watershed unappealing to fish, or swim, in.
Fishers wearing felt bottom waders are the vector that poses the major risk of transporting this invasive to new water. Soak waders in hot, soapy water for 20 minutes or completely dry them out before going into new waters.
Vermont has now banned the use of felt soled waders in all of its waters.
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It does not matter whether the water body is known to harbor exotics; act as though every place you launch contains these problem species. All of us should think in terms of the following: check, clean, and dry.
Check: At the ramp during both launching and trailering, thoroughly inspect your boat's hull, drive unit, trim plates, trolling plates, prop guards, transducers, anchor, anchor rope, and trailer. Scrape off and trash any suspected mussels, however small. Remove all water weeds hanging from the boat or trailer.
Clean: Before launching your boat into uninfested waters, thoroughly flush the hull, drive unit, live wells, pumping system, bilge, trailer, bait buckets, engine cooling water system, and other boat parts that got wet while in infested waters. Use a hard spray from a garden hose, or tow the boat through a do-it-yourself car wash. Do not use chlorine bleach or other environmentally unsound washing solutions next to the shore.
Drain all bilge water, live wells, bait buckets, and any other water from your boat and equipment at the ramp as you leave a water body.
Live bait should not be taken from one water body to another. Do not dump live bait into the water; the bait may be a non-native species to that water body. Hot water pumped periodically through an engine's intake is one method of preventing zebra mussel transport inside an engine's cooling system.
In order to kill didymo, felt-soled waders need 20 minutes in hot soapy water at 140 degrees, with a 5 percent solution - 8 ounces of detergent in 1.25 gallons of water. This ratio is a greater concentration than what you use to do dishes.
• Dry: If washing or disinfection steps cannot be taken, allow boats, trailers, or waders to dry thoroughly in the sun for up to five days before going into new waters. If waders are in a dark cool place, thorough drying will take longer.
Enjoy our great river, but don't be a vector this season. Be careful and protect our watershed from further invasions by exotics.
Remember: Check, clean, and dry!