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SOUTHEAST ALASKA BANS FELT-SOLE WADERS

3K views 3 replies 4 participants last post by  JR SPEY 
#1 ·
by MICHAEL PENN/JUNEAU EMPIRE



IN AN EFFORT TO STOP the spread of disease and pests, anglers in Alaska will soon be banned from wearing felt-sole waders, the Juneau Empire reports.

Whirling disease—which causes deformities in fish—an algae called rock snot, mud snails and zebra mussels are just a few organisms that can spread between rivers and lakes, hitchhiking on the bottoms of a fi sherman’s shoes.

Felt-bottomed shoes, used by many anglers because they can grip slippery surfaces well—are of particular concern because they take several hours to dry, providing a moist habitat in which microorganisms and parasites can survive as they are moved from an infected stream to another body of water.

The ban on felt-sole wading shoes will take effect on Jan. 1, 2012.
 
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#4 ·
You know, I talked to the owner of the Goodnews River lodge about this. The lodge provides wading boots and bootfoot waders for their clients so that they don't have to pack their own in their duffels. While not truly complaining, he explained that his lodge has roughly 50 pairs of boots and waders that have felt on them and will have to be discarded. Many of those have seen only one season of use. All of them are only used in the Goodnews River watershed. When you stop to think about it, that's a significant cost that will all have to be dealt with this coming year. Since there's no way those boots will cause an introduction of non-native life to a different watershed, it just seems like a waste to me. There just has to be a more sensible way of pursuing this.
 
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