Managing aquatic invasions optimal locations and operating times for watercraft inspection stations

• Author(s) / Creator(s)

  • Fischer, Samuel M
  • Beck, Martina
  • Herborg, Leif-Matthias
  • Lewis, Mark A

• Aquatic invasive species (AIS) cause signicant ecological and economic damages around the
  world. A major spread mechanism for AIS is trac of boaters transporting their watercraft from
  invaded to uninvaded waterbodies. To inhibit the spread of AIS, Canadian provinces and American
  states often set up watercraft inspection stations at roadsides, where potentially infested boats are
  screened for AIS and, if necessary, decontaminated. However, since budgets for AIS control are
  limited, watercraft inspection stations can only be operated at specic locations and daytimes.
  Though theoretical studies provide managers with general guidelines for AIS management, more
  specic results are needed to determine when and where watercraft inspections would be most
  eective. This is the subject of this paper. We show how linear integer programming techniques
  can be used to optimize watercraft inspection policies under budget constraints. We introduce our
  approach as a general framework and apply it to the prevention of the spread of zebra and quagga
  mussels (Dreissena spp.) to the Canadian province of British Columbia. We consider multiple
  scenarios and show how variations in budget constraints, propagule sources, and model uncertainty
  aect the optimal policy. Based on these results, we identify simple, generally applicable principles
  for optimal AIS management.

• Date created

  2020-03-12

• Subjects / Keywords

  • aquatic invasive species
  • linear integer programming
  • optimal management
  • spatially explicit
  • zebra mussel

• Type of Item

  Article (Draft / Submitted)

• DOI

  https://doi.org/10.7939/r3-wrna-b426

• License

  Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International