Next Week is Michigan’s Aquatic Invasive Species Awareness Week
Michigan environmentalists are educating boaters about how to prevent the accidental transportation of invasive species.
State officials are warning boaters they could be bringing dangerous stowaways with them into Michigan’s waterways. The state is holding a week of educational events across more than 45 boat landings to describe how best to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species like Eurasian water
milfoil and Asian Carp. State Biologist Kevin Walters says it’s better to be overly cautious than to accidentally introduce a potential danger into lakes and streams.
“You don’t have to be able to identify aquatic invasive species. You don’t have to know what plant you’re looking at or what mussel is on your boat. The simple message is: just clean it, drain it, dry it, remove it. If you get it off your boat, you don’t have to worry if it’s native or not native, if it’s invasive, if it’s a nuisance species or not.”
-Kevin Walters
Walters says the message is not just for boaters. He says even anglers need to make sure they wash out their waders after every use.
