Sicamous council is looking to find a balance between protecting local lakes from invasive mussels while still supporting tourism.
The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB) is calling for a moratorium to stop out-of-province boats from entering B.C. With Sicamous relying on summer tourism, most of council would like to explore a different solution instead of going to that extreme.
“Sure, we don’t mussels in our lakes because the maintenance could be $64-123 million per year to manage them. It’s an expensive problem for the province to have, but banning boats coming into B.C. is a tourism issue, and that’s an expensive rule to put in place,” said District of Sicamous Mayor Colleen Anderson. “So, you want to support it, but you want to figure out a solution as to how this will work for tourism.”
She suggested collaborating with other councils and watersheds to brainstorm ideas for a different fix that takes both issues into consideration, arguing boats should be stopped at the borders via check points, which would require the government to step up with some additional funding.
While Coun. Siobhan Rich agreed the province needs to do more, she added that local municipalities need to take more responsibility as well, and should have someone at the main boat launches doing checks on-site.
“The launch is too far into this process already; I think it still has to be at the border where we’re stopping them,” Anderson replied, adding the district already have some local measures in place. “It’s got to be before it hits the province. We just need to get the funding. It’s going to cost the government more not to do it.”
Anderson suggested getting Splatsin and other bands in the area involved, adding to council’s voice because they are the Caretakers of the Land, and they may have access to funding the district does not.
Council directed staff to reach out to the district’s First Nations partners, and draft a letter regarding more provincial enforcement at the border. That will come back to a future council meeting for approval.
Read more: Mussel scare prompts Okanagan Water Board to call for out-of-province boat ban
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