Boating restrictions due to mussels?

On May 8, 9:09*pm, "Mike" wrote:
Mike,

Where are you located? I'm in San Jose, and most of my boating is in the
Anderson Resevoir. I read exactly what you stated in the Mercury News this
morning. Inspections would be OK in my book, but the launching fee should
cover it. Any additional cost should not be passed on to us. I do realize
that the mussels are a menace, but not to the point of prohibiting boating
on the few lakes we have available to us, here in Santa Clara County.

I'm also in San Jose. I do most of my boating in Calero. Was there
yesterday and there was a crew filming for the local news.

Already they are backing off on the possibility of a complete ban on
boating. Should have seen it coming. They did the same thing a few
years ago with MTBE. Scare the hell out of the public with talk about
a complete ban, then make them jump through hoops to still be able to
go boating.

What I find interesting is how late they are to the party this time.
They were on top of MTBE early and rightly took some credit when it
was banned. The mussels were found 4 months ago practically in our
backyard. The did some initial testing and made sure the press was
there to film their scuba divers working, but took no steps to address
boating. Clear Lake, East Bay MUD and others have already started
inspection programs. Also, Anderson and Calero reservoirs are
connected via underground pipeline with San Justo. They all get water
from San Luis reservoir and both Anderson and Calero are 'downstream'
from San Justo.

I have no doubt we will end up paying for inspections. Neither the
county, who runs the public access part, or the water district wants
to pay for anything new. I also don't think they'll issue season
passes. Boaters in this area are much more likely to travel long
distances to launch their boat. There aren't any large reservoirs in
the area that offer camping. I was at Lake Berryessa just last
weekend.

Thanks for the replies so far guys. Wrote a letter to the editor of
the local fishwrap late yesterday. We'll see if they publish it.

-mike