I have seen the…

I have seen the establishment of european frog-bit in our local waterbodies near Dryden Ontario. This has harmed the indigenous wild rice businesses, as this plant covers up the areas where wild rice used to be. Also, boats have spread it throughout the area. I support including european frog-bit on the list of invasive species, in addition to the other species proposed.

Our area is unique in that many invasive species are just starting to show up here. There is an opportunity to reduce the potential spread greatly, by putting requirements for 'clean, drain, dry' before boats move between waterbodies. It would be very beneficial to make it mandatory to have boats cleaned before crossing the US border or the Manitoba border into Ontario. When lakes are known to have invasive species present, washing boats needs to be mandatory. Tourism is a huge industry here, and keeping our lakes free from invasives should be more of a priority in Ontario than it has been. Education on its own is not working to stop the spread of invasives.