The Government of Manitoba is hoping that a multi-stakeholder advisory group will help hold the line on water-based invasive species.
The Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Advisory Forum was announced June 26 to “ensure a regionally diverse range of perspectives are incorporated into prevention and containment activities,” according to a government release.
The forum will be a platform to pass information between stakeholder groups and the province’s AIS program “as well as provide feedback and recommendations on preventing the introduction of AIS into Manitoba and containing the spread.”
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Over 20 stakeholders had a say in the forum’s membership, according to the province.
The body has already started work. Its first meeting was held June 22.
Preventing invasive species spread is a “high priority,” Natural Resources and Northern Development Minister Greg Nesbitt said in a release.
“We all have a role to play in stopping the spread of AIS, and this forum will bolster our ongoing co-operative work with stakeholders to protect the province’s waterways from species that harm the environment and the economy,” he said.
The forum’s launch was announced within weeks of two new roadside inspection stations opening in Westman. On June 9, the province announced stations would be set up near Minnedosa and Ste. Rose du Lac.
At the time, Nesbitt credited the additions to “growing zebra mussel and other AIS threats in western Manitoba.”
In early 2023, Parks Canada confirmed that zebra mussel DNA had been found at one test site in Clear Lake in Riding Mountain National Park last summer.
The national park service stressed that finding zebra mussel DNA was not the same as finding mussels themselves.
“It is possible that DNA came to Clear Lake on a boat or other source, but that no living mussel was transferred,” Parks Canada said.
Nevertheless, new rules were installed after the finding. Anyone wanting to put a trailered boat into Clear Lake in 2023 had to pass an AIS inspection by June 15 and will not be able to put their boat in any other water body this year.
The changes also included tighter inspections for anything else that goes in the water at Clear Lake, including paddle craft, beach toys, etc.
Zebra mussels have been in Lake Winnipeg for the last decade. Since then, they have been found in the Red River, Cedar Lake (north of Lake Winnipegosis), Assean Lake (north of Split Lake), parts of the Nelson River and Lake Manitoba.
The two new inspection stations join other such sites at Headingley, Selkirk, Eriksdale, The Pas, Wabowden and Grand Rapids. Anyone hauling any kind of boat (paddle craft included) is required to stop when encountering a station and can be fined $672 for failing to do so.
