The East Bay Regional Park District is changing how it inspects watercraft to better fight off invasive mussel species.
The district has long required inspections to prevent the spread of unwanted species into local lakes and reservoirs. For frequent visitors, staff use tamper-proof bands placed between the craft and trailer when the boat leaves the lake, serving as proof the vessel hadn’t launched in other waters.
Boats returning with an intact band didn’t require re-inspection before entering a park district lake. That’s about to change. As of May 7, EBRPD’s banding program will transition to color-coded, lake-specific bands and will no longer accept the previous bands. Watercraft returning to the same EBRPD body of water with an intact lake-specific band and a copy of the prior inspection form will receive an abbreviated inspection and won’t be charged another inspection fee. Entrance and launch fees will still apply.
Boats without a band for that specific lake or reservoir will require a full inspection before each launch and an inspection fee.
The inspection process remains the same for car-top watercraft like kayaks, canoes, and inflatables, which are inspected each time they enter a lake, but an inspection fee is only charged once every 30 days. The owner must provide a copy of the initial inspection form with the receipt.
The policy change comes in response to the discovery of the highly invasive golden mussel in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta at the Port of Stockton in October 2024.
It’s the first known occurrence of golden mussels in North America and is believed to have been introduced by a ship traveling from an international port, according to the California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The species is native to rivers and creeks in coastal Asia and parts of South America. Golden mussels have not been detected in EBRPD-managed waters.
The mussel is an invasive, non-native freshwater/brackish water bivalve that poses a threat to natural ecosystems and water quality throughout California and beyond.
The golden mussel is similar to the quagga and zebra mussels and can thrive in waters with much lower calcium levels, putting local water sources at higher risk of invasion.
“Fortunately, golden mussels have not been detected in park district-managed waters,” Matt Graul, EBRPD stewardship division lead, said in a statement. “We want to keep it that way. Boat inspections and banding are critical tools in protecting our waterbodies from invasive species that can devastate delicate aquatic ecosystems.”
Inspections cost $7 for motorized vessels and $4 for car-tops or inflatables. For tips on passing inspections, go to ebparks.org/mussels.
you cannot stop this, sad as it may be. It is simply a matter of time until it is everywhere. So many ships dumping ballast here, we need to come up with a poison or a targeted genetic treatment for them or live with it.
I fought a muscle once.
They get winded quick, bide your time and stay calm.
I think this is the first step in eliminating recreational use of our lakes and rivers to appease the tree huggers. Lake Berryessa will likely lose all marinas in the next few years, removing all infrastructure access points, which started nearly 20 years with the removal of Spanish Flat Resort and Steele Park Resort.
Until they figure out how to get the mussel larvae off the wings of ducks, geese and other migratory birds, this is just a way to tax waterway users and eventually drive them all away. “Rich people have boats”, so therefore they shouldn’t have the opportunity to use them.