Identifying target factors for interventions to increase boat cleaning in order to prevent spread of invasive species

Overland transport of recreational boats is among the most important distribution vectors for aquatic invasive zebra and quagga mussels between inland waters. Simple measures such as instructing boat owners how to prepare their boat for transport so that the boat does not carry invasive species are considered to be important prevention measures. Nevertheless, the net effects of such measures are poorly understood and the boat cleaning behavior of boat owners has never been studied in detail before the implementation of such preventive measures. Using a “self-report” questionnaire, we investigated the boat cleaning behavior of boat owners in Switzerland where almost no preventive measures have been taken yet. We found that the self-reported boat cleaning rates are high, with 92% of boaters cleaning their boat upon finding mussels attached to their boat and 84% of them cleaning their boat before a transport. Nevertheless, only half of the boat owners report using high pressure washing to clean their boat before overland transport and many use ineffective cleaning methods. We show the importance of informing boat owners on the appropriate methods to remove invasive species from their boat and suggest that high pressure washing facilities should be made available at all potentially infested water bodies. Furthermore, our analysis shows that the boat cleaning behavior could be significantly improved by changing how boat owners value the perceived costs and benefits of cleaning, as well as by increasing their awareness of the potential negative impacts on aquatic ecosystems caused by non-native species. With regard to a possible spread of zebra mussels to uninfested alpine lakes and the imminent spread of quagga mussels in Switzerland, we conclude that the Swiss boating community would be open to accepting implementation of prevention measures. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3391/mbi.2017.8.1.07 Posted at the Zurich Open Repository and Archive, University of Zurich ZORA URL: https://doi.org/10.5167/uzh-131220 Accepted Version Originally published at: De Ventura, Lukas; Weissert, Nora; Tobias, Robert; Kopp, Kristin; Jokela, Jukka (2017). Identifying target factors for interventions to increase boat cleaning in order to prevent spread of invasive species. Management of Biological Invasions, 8(1):71-84. DOI: https://doi.org/10.3391/mbi.2017.8.1.07 Management of Biological Invasions (2017) Volume 8 Article in press © 2017 The Author(s). Journal compilation © 2017 REABIC Open Access Research Article CORRECTED PROOF Identifying target factors for interventions to increase boat cleaning in order to prevent spread of invasive species Lukas De Ventura*, Nora Weissert, Robert Tobias, Kirstin Kopp and Jukka Jokela Aquatic Ecology at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Sciences and Technology (EAWAG), Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland Institute for Integrative Biology (IBZ) at the Federal Institute of Technology Zurich (ETHZ), Ueberlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland Environmental Social Sciences at the Swiss Federal Institute for Environmental Sciences and Technology (EAWAG), Überlandstrasse 133, 8600 Dübendorf, Switzerland Department of Psychology, Social Psychology at the University of Zürich, Binzmuehlestrasse 14/15, 8050 Zurich, Switzerland *Corresponding author E-mail: [email protected] Received: 21 December 2015 / Accepted: 2 November 2016 / Published online: 9 December 2016 Handling editor: Marnie Campbell