$2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Wondering how serious state and federal officials are about those mussel inspections? How about $2,500 worth of serious. Just received this release from the National Park Service. Better get inspected or have a thick wallet.

Here's the release:



"Page, AZ ? In the first trial involving Glen Canyon National Recreation Area?s mussel prevention regulations, a federal judge has ordered a Nevada man to pay a $2500 fine for failing to have his boat inspected for mussels before launching on Lake Powell.

On Monday, October 19, Federal Magistrate Judge Robert T. Braithwaite found Nevada resident Jonny Ward guilty of violating regulations requiring mandatory inspections for ?at risk? boats entering Lake Powell. Ward visited Glen Canyon on August 17, 2009, and was informed by park staff that he was required to have his boat inspected for zebra and quagga mussels before launching on Lake Powell. Ward instead proceeded to Lone Rock Beach, where he launched in violation of Glen Canyon regulations.

National Park Service rangers contacted Ward on Lone Rock Beach and issued him a mandatory citation to appear in court for violating mussel prevention regulations. Ward elected to go to trial, and was found guilty of violating Glen Canyon?s quagga mussel regulations by Judge Braithwaite. National Park Service staff testified in court in support of the prosecution.

?We appreciate Judge Braithwaite?s support for our mussel prevention efforts at Glen Canyon National Recreation Area? Superintendent Stan Austin said. ?Our success in keeping Lake Powell mussel-free will only continue with the cooperation and support of all of our partners and visitors.?

Zebra and quagga mussels are aquatic invasive species that can lead to severe economic and environmental consequences for lakes and other waterways. A number of water bodies in the region are known to be infested with quagga mussels. Glen Canyon National Recreation Area has had an active mussel prevention program in place since 2000 for Lake Powell. All evidence to date indicates Lake Powell is zebra and quagga mussel free."

http://blogs.sltrib.com/fishing/index.php

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Also, there were two cases stemming from uninspected launchings of Oct and Nov 2008. One guy paid $2,500, the other guy paid about $4,500. Those are just the NPS fines and do not include court costs, att fees, etc.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

A steep as those fines and penalties are, considering it only takes one boat to start a chain of events that threatens the whole lake, they seem like an inadequate deterrent. You should have to forfeit your boat for a stunt like that. You don't deserve to share the resource when you demonstrate such disregard for its welfare.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

hi guys; just got back from a week down at bull frog.
there are big yellow signs at the top of the ramp and at the de-con station further up the road from there where all this is explained as well as at the entry station. there is another thread along this vein and i fully intended to take a post and pictures of this as some have wondered how they do the inspections ect. it works.

SORRY SORRY. in my diminished mental state i walked off yesterday and forgot to get them. i will try again next week.

any way the ramp sign says (i think, and am 80% sure) that this violation above could be up to $5000 + prison time. i will do my best to confirm one way or the other. or if you know for sure please post.

any way if i am right and thats the case, he got of easy compared to what the max could be.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Here's the link to Glen Cayon NRA Zebra Mussel Advisory
http://www.nps.gov/glca/parknews/zebramussel1.htm
They ain't playing games!!!

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

"that can lead to severe economic .. consequences for lakes"

Now the lake is going to have to close it's bank account

The advisory is just another "Do this or we'll kill you" threat, but says nothing as to what happens if the mussel takes hold. Besides liking to grow on lower units, what damage do they do? What happened at the other lakes once the mussel took hold?

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

lowkee said:

"that can lead to severe economic .. consequences for lakes"

Now the lake is going to have to close it's bank account

The advisory is just another "Do this or we'll kill you" threat, but says nothing as to what happens if the mussel takes hold. Besides liking to grow on lower units, what damage do they do? What happened at the other lakes once the mussel took hold?

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Zebra Mussels are big trouble. They ripped through the great lakes about 10 years ago and are just subsiding now. They essentially attach and therefore clog everything in site (causing economic damage) and eat everything as well causing all kinds of ecosystem imbalances/damage.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

lowkee;

they have arrived to colorado river system from the the great lakes and eastern water ways. to the great lakes from the Baltic or one of those lakes over there, coming here on ocean going freighters that dumped there bilges in the great lakes.
they have no natural enemy's here + reproduce at a staggering rate. they are filter feeders and destroy the food chain from the bottom up.
they blanket-cover what ever is in the water-boats rocks- infrastructure plugging ruining and making life tough for anything-one that has to deal with them.
they are all ready infecting the lower colorado and are transferred by boats contaminated by them. either live adults attached or the microscopic young in the bilge water,livewells,anchors@lines ect.
they have contaminated several water ways in the mid west and now into the west.
the above inspection process is the last ditch effort to keep them out of waters not yet contaminated
this is a very short explanation. a very broad over view.
google zebra quaga mussels for a more detailed exclamation

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thanks for posting that link cribber; i got this off of it

Launching will be prohibited outside of these hours. Violators face a mandatory court appearance, up to 6 months in jail, and a $5000 fine.

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makes me feel better that my memory wasn't quite as bad in my above post.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

i went back and got this from the link from cribber and posted for any one that ddnt catch it and wondered why they are a problem

What are zebra mussels?

Zebra mussels are a particularly damaging aquatic nuisance species. They are dark and light stripped freshwater bivalve mollusks that are native to Eastern Europe and western Asia. Individual mussels grow to a size of about 1.5 inches. They were first discovered in North America in 1988 in Lake St. Clair, one of the water bodies connecting the Great Lakes. It is believed that this invasive species was introduced through ballast water discharges from international shipping. Following their initial invasion, zebra mussels spread quickly across most of the eastern United States and Canada. Zebra mussels are inadvertently transported to new water bodies by recreationally boaters. They can be transport either as adult mussels that are attached to a vessel, or in any part of the vessel that may harbor small amounts of water that can contain larval mussels.



Zebra mussels cause severe economic and ecological damage. Zebra mussels are biofoulers, attaching to most hard surfaces including boats, docks, cables, and water intake structures. They form thick mats that may be up to 18 inches thick. These mats can contain hundreds of thousands of individual mussels. In western Lake Erie, over 700,000 mussels were discovered in one square meter! Ecologically, zebra mussels drastically alter the ecology of infested water bodies and may severalty impact sport fisheries. Zebra mussels are filter feeders and each animal filters approximately one liter of water per day, removing algae and small zooplankton from the water column. When this occurs, the algae and zooplankton are no longer available to support higher levels of the food chain. Often, the sport fishery is compromised.

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Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Fine him AND take his boat...

I just recently read about this issue, and while it may seem a small inconvience to be inspected, I think it is the right thing. If the guy can't follow the rules, then he should not have a boat to do it again...

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Knightgang said:

Fine him AND take his boat...

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Don't forget to crush his car and demolish his house, maybe get him fired from his job and place the kids in foster care.
Now i "feel" better.
Oh well I suppose thats why the constitution protects society from zealots like me.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Pulled anchor up at Havasu this last October.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

2500, thats a start .
to bad they didnt confiscate the boat.
some invasive species are simply bad juju, dont care what the other guy from NC thinks.
having lived on three coasts and spent a year north of chicargo, I have seen some of what invasive species,both plant and animal, can do.
best I recall lake powell is a fairly important sorce of drinking water and electrical power for a couple of folks.
when the mussels start clogging water intakes and turbine channels it will get a bit expensive.
its kinda sad to have to have rules, but in todays mobile society we simply have to have them.
years ago I was driving from Mobile AL to San Francisco CA, I was 16.
got stopped at the AZ border and was inspected for any fresh fruits, was told to eat them on the spot or toss them but I could not cross the border with them, same thing happened at the CA border.
fruit flies,med flies and ants were what they were trying to stop.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

Firing squad in the launch parking lot?

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

ill bring the popcorn .
but invasive species can and do cause quite a bit of financial and ecological damage.
hydrilla,milfoil, jumping carp,zebra mussels,nutria rats and the most costly the lowly fire ant.
all invasive with no natural predation in the states and some tend to eat about anything.
anyone reading this in the south knows all about the fire ant,most dont know it was imported,the USDA thinks, into the port of mobile AL in the early 1800,s.
now we even have them in Virginia and North Carolina.
we got them in my area a few years back in sod shipments from GA for use in golf courses.
its one thing to not knowingly obey the law.
but this guy WAS informed and ignored it, then he got to pay.
how it works in a democratic republic.
mostly I dont like laws nor the way they get enforced but in cases of invasive species we gotta try something.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

If folk do not want to follow the rules then they should go elsewhere.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

A $2500 fine is pretty stiff and a way to show that they're serious about trying to eradicate this threat to our waterways. We all have responsibilities when boating and this is just another thing to put on the checklist. Don't cross-contaminate waterways if you can avoid it.

Re: $2,500 fine at Lake Powell

cribber said:

A $2500 fine is pretty stiff and a way to show that they're serious about trying to eradicate this threat to our waterways. We all have responsibilities when boating and this is just another thing to put on the checklist. Don't cross-contaminate waterways if you can avoid it.

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cribber, you are right and it is real easy to follow the rules. Have a clean dry boat and no problems. We go thru the inspections all the time and no troubles...