Watercraft decontamination practices to reduce the viability of aquatic invasive species implicated in overland transport

Recreational boating activities enable aquatic invasive species (AIS) dispersal among disconnected lakes, as invertebrates and plants caught on or contained within watercraft and equipment used in invaded waterbodies can survive overland transport. Besides simple preventive measures such as "clean, drain, dry", resource management agencies recommend decontaminating watercraft and equipment using high water pressure, rinsing with hot water, or air-drying to inhibit this mode of secondary spread. There is a lack of studies assessing the efficacy of these methods under realistic conditions and their feasibility for recreational boaters. Hence, we addressed this knowledge gap via experiments on six invertebrate and plant AIS present in Ontario. Washing at high pressures of 900–1200 psi removed the most biological material (90%) from surfaces. Brief (