Lake Whatcom + Lake Samish

[AaronW]

We haven't discussed this on here at all (there are countless posts on wafish.com about it but the dialogue tends to be more sane around these parts).

For those that don't know, Lake Whatcom and now Lake Samish will require an inspection for invasive species (EDITED) to launch starting on opening day. You will also be required to pay $20 to launch or shell out $50 for the annual pass (Dec. 31).

Also, by 2015, it looks the aim is for every lake in Whatcom County to require an inspection before launch.

As for tournaments, if you are coming from out of the area, you only need to pay a $5 inspection fee.

Samish was a late adder last night to this ordinance. If you want to launch at Samish, you must get your boat inspected at the Bloedel Donovan launch. UPDATE: Councilwoman Barbara Brenner said they will not enforce the Lake Samish inspections this year.

[RiverChromeGS]

Inspected for what?

[rseas]

"The county has no inspection program set up at Lake Samish yet, so boaters who want to go to Lake Samish will first have to take their boats to Lake Whatcom for an inspection."

Not to whine here but this sucks at so many levels, I'm depressed...

[AaronW]

EDITED: inspected for invasive species.

[RiverChromeGS]

EDITED: inspected for invasive species.

Stupidiest thing ever in my opinion

[Mike Carey]

seriously insane. Go to lake Whatcom to get inspected, then go to lake Samish to launch boat at the crack of dawn for kokanee. Who comes up with these ideas?

[rseas]

Another quote:

"A total of 1,794 boater surveys were conducted over 36 days between July 14th and September 30th, 2012. While the majority of boats surveyed had originated in Whatcom County, boats had visited 85 different waterbodies in 8 different states/provinces prior to launching in Lake Whatcom. Survey results also indicate that Lake Whatcom boaters had visited 96 different waterbodies in 11 different states/provinces at some point in the past, including Lake Mead, Arizona/Nevada. Maps depicting the zip codes of registered boats, the last waterbody where they launched, the next waterbody where they planned on launching, as well as any waterbodies visited in the past can be found in Appendices C-F. Of all the boats surveyed, 89 percent were registered in Washington, eight percent were registered in British Columbia, and the remaining three percent were registered in California, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, and Vermont. Of the boats that were registered in states other than Washington, the majority of boat operators reported that they live in Washington. Only 930 unique registered boats (excluding repeats and non-motorized watercraft) stopped at our Aquatic Invasive Species Check Station with several boats stopping at the station on more than five occasions. Of these 930 unique registered boats, 83 were registered in British Columbia, 30 were registered in states other than Washington, 817 were registered in Washington State and 561 of these were registered in Whatcom County. Despite the number of locally registered boats using Lake Whatcom, four watercraft operators reported having taken their watercraft to a waterbody infested with zebra/quagga mussels in the past. Additionally, three other watercraft operators reported having taken their watercraft to a waterbody that is in close proximity to infested waters. While none of these watercraft posed any risk to Lake Whatcom at the time they were stopped at the Aquatic Invasive Species Check Station, they demonstrate that there are Lake Whatcom users that have traveled to mussel infested waters in the past"

[Amx]

EVERYBODY that takes their boat out of state, or those that live in another state/country, HAS to stop at the first inspection station upon crossing into Washington. The inspections by Lakes Samish/Watcom requirements are totaly unecessary and people had better be protesting, starting with their county government, and the WDFW, and their local/county/state government representatives. Is NO reason to have the boats inspected twice and no reason to have ANY local boats inspected that haven't been out of state.

[racfish]

I think its funny. The state is broke. They have cut back everywhere in the state ,yet they implement this rule which costs something to the state. Just in hiring the inspectors alone. Gotta love Wa State and their thinking.

[Steelheadin360]

i thought some of the new fishing regulations were dumb, this just blew right past those on the dumb-0-meter.

[rseas]

Yet another quote:

"Recommendation #6: Launch Requirements Staff recommends that all launches be staffed by aquatic invasive species inspectors during hours of operation. All launches will also need to be gated and have set hours of operation that allow launching only when staff is present. For launches that are unable to meet this requirement, staff recommends that the owners/operators of these launches/boat ramps enter into Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) agreements with Whatcom County and/or the City of Bellingham that all watercraft shall be inspected prior to launching into Lake Whatcom from these locations"

[Mike Carey]

wow and wow again. They really only want recreational water skiers to use the lakes, because what angler is going to ever get on the lakes at crack o dawn again.

[Amx]

And those who live on the lake are jumping with joy. They'll have the lake all to themselves.

[rappuhd]

Wow I had not seen that Samish got added to the list. I wrote a letter to all the city council members stating the reasons the inspections were not needed and served little to no purpose,but simply got back letters stating that they did not care they were going to go forward with it. What a giant waste of taxpayers money and time!

[natetreat]

Sheesh! This is ridiculous. Wow.

My favorite part: Out of 1,794 boats inspected, 930 unique boats, only 4 boats had visited waters known to be infested with invasive species. For 4 boats, we're going to create or expand the scope of state employee jobs, at prevailing wage, state pension and vacation pay etc. etc. Let's say the average boat checker makes a living wage around $50,000 a year, one at each county boat launch, with an average of two employees per launch. Our WaLakes county lake index has 25 lakes listed for Whatcom County. That's about $2,500,000 for inspector salaries per year alone.

Personally, it sounds like a great use of taxpayer money to me! Let's take a minor problem and make a giant convoluted way to throw money at it and make it a non-issue. This is the most ridiculous thing ever. It took me 3 minutes to figure out that this was ridiculous. What the heck is our government thinking?

I'm sure that our current policies should be updated a bit to control invasive species, but this is absurd. To solve the problem: Put a mandatory boat rinse at all waters in Washington affected invasive species. If you must staff the thing, staff it. All boats that go out of state get checked, as AMX says get checked anyways. Problem solved. Oh, but that's WAAAAAAAAAAAY to easy, right?

[bassplayer17]

wow and wow again. They really only want recreational water skiers to use the lakes, because what angler is going to ever get on the lakes at crack o dawn again.

SH 360 just texted me with this info and im thinkin no way, I get home, on line and there it is. You just gotta love this state pay more for less Just there way of saying thanks for all those sportsman dollars....

[Mike Carey]

guess I won't be using that updated boat launch this year.

So I'm reading the report link here:

http://www.cob.org/documents/pw/lw/2012 ... eport.pdf


This is funny - "sealing" your boat to your trailer for a month prior to use. We couldn't make this stuff up!

Recommendation #5: Pre-Season Quarantine
Staff recommends that watercraft operators wishing to expedite the launch process at the beginning of
the season pay for an annual permit and have their watercraft sealed to their trailers for a minimum of
30 days prior to launching in Lake Whatcom. If the seal is still intact when these watercraft pull up to the
inspection station in April/May, they will be allowed to launch much faster using the "sealed boats only"
lane. If these boats continue to only use Lake Whatcom, they will be re-sealed and will not have to go
18
through the longer "inspection" lane. This procedure is especially recommended for all wakeboard
boats, as well as any boats using the Sudden Valley Community Association Marina, any private
launches, the Wildwood Resort boat launch, and the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife boat
launch at South Bay.

As I understand it, this is just a "recommendations" report, not actual law - yet. Am I reading that correctly?

Here is I believe the current Whatcom county state code:

http://www.codepublishing.com/wa/whatco ... 0227A.html

NOTE:
2.27A.030 Inspection.

Any and all motorized, nonmotorized, and/or trailered watercraft may be inspected by an enforcement office prior to launching into waters within the jurisdiction of Whatcom County to detect the presence and prevent the transport or release of aquatic invasive species. (Ord. 2012-034 (Exh. A)).

So it currently says "may". Granted, the plan that is being recommended is draconian to say the least, but as I'm reading it, it isn't yet approved?

[natetreat]

2,500,000 is %1.4 of Whatcom county's revenue. For a silly thing like this, that's a heck of a lot of money to dump into nonsense. Another hundred stupid decisions, which by the stupidity of this decision as an example doesn't seem that farfetched and they've squandered all our money.

[AaronW]

It's bad news but there hasn't really been any action taken from many boaters in the county to counteract it minus a few individuals who have made their voices heard at county council meetings. As fishermen, we should probably organize against this new ordinance somehow. Any ideas?

[jd39]

Hopefully the cost will kill this and no other counties consider it.