A San Jose man has become the 18th boater on Clear Lake this year to be hit with a misdemeanor citation and fine for failing to have a sticker proving his vessel had been checked for invasive quagga and zebra mussels.
"It's a big issue," said Sgt. Dennis Ostini of the Lake County Sheriff's boat patrol who also sits on the county's invasive species committee.
By the time court fines and fees are added to the $1,000 misdemeanor, Robert Berrett is looking at close to $2,700 for failing to have a current inspection sticker, Ostini said.
Lake County supervisors in February boosted the offense from a $100 infraction in hopes of obtaining better compliance with its inspection ordinance, said Supervisor Tony Farrington.
Officials warned more than 450 boaters and issued citations to over 100 others since the county first passed an anti-mussel ordinance in 2008, Ostini said.
Keeping the mussels at bay is important because Clear Lake is crucial to the county's economy, attracting visitors to boat, swim and bird watch.
The mussels, which infiltrated Southern California waters in 2008, have been steadily making their way across the United States since first spotted in the East 22 years ago.
They foul waters and clog engines and water systems, causing millions of dollars in damage. Despite that, there are few mandatory regulations aimed at stopping the pests, which hitchhike between waterways on boats and fishing equipment. Compliance is purely voluntary at lakes Sonoma and Mendocino, U.S. Army Corps officials said.
Lake County is a leader in the effort to stop the pests. But officials admit their efforts are insufficient to keep invasive mussels from entering and possibly causing irreparable harm to the lake.
They hope the fines act as a deterrent but the harm is done once a contaminated boat hits the water, Ostini said. Keeping uninspected boats out of the lake is difficult. The county has 12 public launch ramps and more than 650 private launch areas, far too many to monitor for compliance, even with the help of volunteers.
"It's mission impossible," Ostini said.
The sticker system is imperfect. It primarily relies on the honesty of boaters, who are asked to fill out a questionnaire. If a boat has been to a contaminated lake, they are required to obtain a full inspection.
Lake County supervisors plan to ask the governor to declare a state of emergency so additional funding can be made available. They also will be writing to other counties to ask them to join the effort, Farrington said.
What the county needs are inspection checkpoints at county entry points, he said.
Mike Dillabough, chief of operations and readiness for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers in San Francisco, doesn't think that's feasible. Mussel larvae are microscopic, so finding them is tough, requiring a dog specially trained to sniff them out, he said.
The corps hasn't set up checkpoints at lakes Sonoma and Mendocino because of the expense, Dillabough said. It would cost more than $1 million per checkpoint to effectively inspect all boats, he said. And if they're contaminated, they'd need to be washed at fully contained decontamination stations.
He lauds Lake County's leadership efforts but suggests that counties pool their money and set up mandatory decontamination stations for boaters leaving the five or six lakes and rivers that are known to be contaminated.
"There's few enough lakes and one river system, we can try to prevent them from spreading," Dillabough said.
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