DAN PRICE
KELOWNA – The Kelowna Chamber is leading a Thompson Okanagan push from Chambers of Commerce and Boards of Trade calling for an immediate temporary moratorium on out of province boats entering BC.
A letter to the responsible ministers sent today, asks for mussel detection spending levels to rise significantly, allowing round-the-clock monitoring of pleasure boats being brought into BC across the Alberta and U.S. borders. Invasive mussels have been detected in Idaho, raising the alarm over the threat posed to BC waters and tourism. The moratorium would last at least until results of water treatment in Idaho are assessed.
NICOLE CLARK
Dan Price, Chair of the Kelowna Chamber fully supports the call, as well as asking the BC government to legislate “pull the plug” (on bilge tanks) regulations. “This scourge has already ruined many freshwater lakes and rivers in Canada, and is currently irreversible. We have a good chance to stop it before it becomes established in our beautiful province.”
Nicole Clark, President of the Penticton and Wine Country Chamber adds that their chamber members are greatly concerned: “Tourists and locals love our beaches and our lakes. We can’t stand by and lose these irreplaceable resources.”
“We are thankful for the support of Thompson Okanagan chambers, and the many other voices that have joined us, in our call to the federal and BC governments to commit to funding and legislation that will properly protect BC from invasive mussels,” said Okanagan Basin Water Board Chair Blair Ireland. “We’ve been calling for stronger support for more than a decade, recognizing the gaps in current prevention efforts. But now, with the threat closer than ever of an infestation reaching our shores, this issue has become critical.”
Read the Chambers of Commerce Letter to Ministers.
Source: Kelowna Chamber