Tasmania’s awesome wilderness waterways give us so much pleasure it would be devastating if we were actually responsible for putting a pristine area at risk. And just one drop of contaminated moisture on a kayak could do that.
Sadly, there are pressing threats to our waterways and surrounding environment by introduced pests, weeds and disease-causing pathogens. For example there's the fungus called Chytrid that threatens to wipe out our native frogs and an algae that's knocking at the door from New Zealand, commonly called rock snot, that has the potential to suffocate our rivers.
So it's up to each of us to make sure we're not the ones carrying nasty hitchhikers out to ruin our magnificent natural environment.
Here's the kayaking checklist from NRM South:
Tasmania is globally recognised for its environment and we're lucky to be an island which makes keeping pests at bay that bit easier but any slip and we could lose the place we all love to be.
Adapted from nrmsouth.org.au article on kayaking hygiene. Videos on NRM South KayakClean page also illustrate the impact contamination can have and are recommended viewing.
1 May 2017