BIA Victoria - Marine Pests FAQ’s

Marine Pests FAQ's

How do I keep my boat clean when there no facilities at the ramp and there are water restrictions?
You should check with your local water authority to see what you can and can’t do. In most areas of Victoria you can’t use a hose to wash your boat at your home.

Washing your boat at a carwash is an excellent alternative to cleaning it at home. You can rinse your boat, trailer and gear using the high pressure hose. The whole wash will only cost a few dollars. Rinsing your boat with freshwater will remove or kill most plants or animals attached to your boat and gear.

If you can’t rinse your boat with freshwater, there are other things you can do to make sure you are not carrying live pests:

• Remove any plants, animals or sediment from your boat, trailer and gear

• Drain all the water out of the boat (make sure it doesn’t flow back into the water or into a storm water drain)

• Dry everything completely. You should lay out all your gear so it dries properly - including ropes, lifejackets and buckets. Drying for at least a week will kill the plants and animals on your boat or gear. A coiled up rope or wet life jacket could keep a pest egg or plant spore alive for weeks, or even months so it is important to lay it out to dry thoroughly.

I can’t rinse my boat with freshwater, should I bother doing the other steps?
Definitely! You should do as many of the steps as you can. If you cannot rinse with freshwater you should still:

• Remove any weeds, sediment, shells or animals from your boat trailer and gear and put them in the bin.

• Drain all the water out of your boat and any buckets. There should be no pools of water anywhere. Pests could live in them for weeks or even months.

• Dry everything thoroughly – including boat, trailer, rods, ropes, lifejackets and waders. Anything damp could be keeping a pest or its eggs alive.

I can’t see any plants or animals on my boat, trailer or gear so why do I have to rinse and dry everything?
There are many pests that are too small for us to see – microscopic plants and animals, or their eggs. These tiny organisms could survive for weeks or even months in a damp area – wet buckets, coiled wet rope, or wet lifejackets.


Do I have to wash my boat if I haven’t been in an infested area like Port Phillip Bay?
Definitely! You should wash it after every use, regardless of where you have been. The only way to be certain there are no pests on board is to wash and dry your boat and gear properly.

There may in fact be pests in waters that you think are pristine – but they may not have been spotted or recorded yet. You can never be sure you boat is pest free unless it is cleaned and dried.

If your boat picks up a species native to the area – it could become a pest in other waters. For example a species of seagrass from Wilsons Prom may cause harm to plants and animals in Portland. In fact, a weed that has invaded South Australia and NSW is actually native to northern Australia.

Cleaning you boat and gear thoroughly is the only way to make sure you are not carrying any plants or animals that could become a problem in a new area.


Aren’t ships spreading all the pests? What are they doing about it?
Ships can carry marine pests on their hull, in protected places like propeller shafts, or in the bilge water. Many of the pests we already have in Victoria were brought here by ships, but there is a great risk that small boats will spread them to pristine waters where ships cannot get to.

Ships arriving in Australia and Victoria are subject to strict ballast regulations – they cannot dump high risk ballast in our ports, they have to exchange it at sea.

The Victorian Environmental Protection Authority regulates ships entering Victoria from Australian ports. For more information on domestic ballast regulations click here.

Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) regulates ships coming from international waters. For more information on international ballast regulations click here.

Unfortunately there are no rules about ships having a clean hull. However shipping companies generally try to maintain their hulls, because a fouled hull means a very hefty fuel bill. Even 1mm of slime on a ship’s hull can cost hundreds of thousands dollars in extra fuel every year.

While ships have brought many pests into Victoria (especially Port Philip Bay) it is up to recreational boaters and anglers to make sure they are not spread out of the Bay into pristine waters.


How are we managing the marine pests we already have in Australia?
We have over 100 confirmed introduced species in Australian waters – estimates suggest the real number is more like 400. Not all of them are considered a serious threat but several are.

With the pests we already have, the aim is to minimise their damage by stopping them spreading around the country.

But can we get rid of them altogether? In most cases it is not possible to get rid of the pest by physical removal. It is very costly, time consuming and very rarely successful, so science is looking for other ways to manage our serious pests – mainly biological controls. For example scientists are looking for a genetic mutation, parasite or disease to destroy the northern Pacific seastar populations in Tasmania and Port Phillip Bay.

Until these controls are available, we need to make sure the pests that we have are not spread around Australia.

Many marine industries are now regulated to help stop pests spreading – for example ships cannot pump out high risk ballast at port – they must do it out at sea. There are also regulations in aquarium trade, aquaculture and many more. There are no regulations for recreational boaters travelling within Australia but there are for any boat travelling internationally. Recreational boaters are being asked to voluntarily keep their boat clean and dry.


What do you do if we get a very serious new pest?
You should continue to clean and dry your boat every time you use it and keep a record of all your trips in a log book. This way authorities can trace the pest back to its origin and control it better.


What penalties are there for not cleaning my boat properly?
There are no penalties for not cleaning your boat. However there may be other consequences:

If a serious pest is being spread, restrictions may be put in place to make sure it is contained. There could be bans on boating in certain areas, as well as anchoring and fishing restrictions in infected waters. This is happening now in South Australia and New South Wales because of the invasive weed Caulerpa taxifolia.

If you don’t clean your boat and gear properly, every time you take it on the water you are risking the marine environment and your future boating and fishing.

If your boat is carrying a pest and you move it without cleaning it properly you could spread something like the northern Pacific seastar or Japanese kelp to Gippsland Lakes, Shallow inlet, or even spread it to NSW. Keeping your boat and gear clean will make sure you are not spreading pests to pristine waters.