ENVIRONMENT
Keep foreign species
out of our waterways
There is nothing more frustrating than rowing along, in the zone, and then wondering why your boat is not tracking straight
or it feels like you’re rowing through mud. The problem could be weeds – and not just any weeds.
Throughout the world foreign species – plant and
animal – in a country’s waterways have become a
big issue. They not only pose a threat to the native
wildlife, but they can also have detrimental effects
on the country’s economy and rowers could well
be part of the problem. Rowers may be helping
to cause the spread of the non-native species
inadvertently by not cleaning boats and equipment
before moving to row on a different waterway.
being a big threat to the
waterways. “They are 4cm to
Recently in Great Britain the government decided
to get behind the problem of invasive non-native
species in the nation’s waterways. They call the
campaign Check, Clean, Dry. Along with the British
Environment Minister, Richard Benyon, Olympic
Champion rower and London 2012 ambassador
Ben Hunt-Davis joined in the campaign to make
people aware of the problem. “The campaign
wants to highlight that we’ve got to be vigilant
because by the time we realise that there’s a
problem, it’s often too late [to stop the spread].”
The British government
has good reason to get
behind the campaign. It
is estimated that the
floating pennyworth plant
(originally from North
America) costs the British
economy an estimated
41 million USD each year.
Hunt-Davis says rowers need to make sure that
there are no fragments of weeds left on their
The campaign does not
just cover plant life, it
is also concerned
with other foreign
species with
killer shrimps
