The spread of invasive species is a serious threat to our waters, and a major pathway is through "hitchhiking" on our equipment. New Zealand Mud Snail, Didymo and pathogens are spreading through watersheds worldwide. At home, many anglers are seeing didymo suddenly appear in rivers that it previously did not. Please take these simple step to properly clean your equipment between fishing different lakes or rivers.
Firstly, when leaving a waterbody, remove visible plants, animals, dirt or mud from your waders, boots, boat etc and remove or drain standing or pooled water.
At home, use one of the following disinfection methods:
-Submerge gear in hot water (>45◦C) for at least 10 minutes or until soaked through. Felt soles or absorbent materials need to soak for 40 minutes.
-Freeze gear until solid (>4 hours)
-Soak in 2% solution of household bleach for 1 minute
-Soak in 5% solution of household bleach for 15 minutes (effective for fish and amphibian pathogen disinfection)
All four of the above procedures are effective methods for disinfection of Didymo.
Information from British Columbia Ministry of Environment document "Equipment Disinfection Procedures to Prevent the Accidental Spread to Aquatic Invasive Species-Version 1.1 June 2009". As supplied by Terry Antoniuk, Thanks!!!
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