Columbia Basin Trust and Columbia Power Corporation join forces with the Province, BC Hydro, Fortis BC and conservation organizations to increase efforts to protect local waterways and keep invasive mussels out of BC.
The Province’s Invasive Mussel Defence Program (IMDP) works to protect BC lakes and rivers through early-detection lake monitoring, watercraft inspection stations and public outreach.
BC Hydro is supporting IMDP with a new five-year commitment of annual funding of $900,000 beginning in 2024. The BC Wildlife Federation, Pacific Salmon Foundation and Habitat Conservation Trust Foundation are also providing a collective contribution of $150,000.
These investments join the province’s core funding and the ongoing contributions provided by the program’s founding partners, which include Columbia Basin Trust, Columbia Power and FortisBC. The Trust and Columbia Power will each contribute $250,000.
“Protecting our waters from the threat of invasive species like quagga mussels is not just an environmental imperative, it’s critical to safeguarding the economy and well-being of communities throughout the Columbia Basin,” says Johnny Strilaeff, president and CEO, Columbia Basin Trust. “These mussels, if introduced, could cause irreversible damage. This underscores the necessity of our ongoing commitment to prevention, a focus the Trust and Columbia Power are proud to support through the provincial Invasive Mussel Defence Program to preserve the region’s natural and economic resources for generations to come.”
While substantial action is underway to protect BC waterways from invasive mussels, the Government of BC continues to advocate to the federal government to resume funding this vital program.
IMDP’s operations include watercraft inspections, compliance and enforcement, lake monitoring, public outreach, signs and education. The program has strong and active collaborations with neighbouring jurisdictions across Western Canada and the United States.
Inspection stations are open from April until October to prevent zebra and quagga mussels from hitching a ride on boats or other watercraft and entering BC waterways. Inspectors promote BC’s directive that everyone follow the “Clean, Drain, Dry” guidance, preventative steps every boater is expected to practise when moving between lakes, rivers and other water bodies. Additionally, boat and watercraft owners/operators must now also remove the drain plug and drain all water on dry land, including all internal compartments such as ballasts, bilges and live wells. This new order will make it illegal to transport watercraft in British Columbia with the drain plug still in place.
Invasive zebra and quagga mussels pose significant economic and environmental risks because of their ability to damage essential water infrastructure and outcompete BC’s native species and ecosystems. If they were to be introduced into BC, the estimated cost of annual removal and management would range from $64 million to $129 million per year.
Protecting BC’s waterways from invasive species requires strong partnerships. The combined, collective support of the IMDP allows sustained, co-ordinated and targeted action to lessen the Ministry of Water, Land and Resource Stewardship risk of invasive mussels and keep BC’s waterways safe from this aquatic invasive species.
Read the full announcement here.
