The Alaska Board of Fisheries has come out in support of a state-wide ban on felt-soled wading boots, seen as a potential threat to the environment.
Felt-soled boots are worn by fishermen in creeks and streams to improve footing on wet rocks. The felt stays wet longer and carries more river sediment than rubber boots, however, which means a higher risk of spreading invasive species. Invasive species, such as Myxobolus cerebralis (causing whirling disease), Didymo, mud snails and zebra mussels, can survive on the felt and thence be transported to other fishing grounds, spreading disease.
As for now, Alaska does not have an invasive species problem, and local authorities and organisations are eager to keep it that way.
A ban is expected to take force by 2012. A good pair of waders could run $100 (€74), with fancier models costing even more.
Karl Johnstone, of Anchorage, himself a member of the Board that voted 6-0 in favour of a ban, said he owns 15 pairs of felt-soled waders and that he would dispose of them in a burning party.
“I don’t like that either,” he said, but replacement costs were worth it.