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Thread: New data suggests angler's felt soled boots NOT responsible for dydimo spread

  1. #1
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    Default New data suggests angler's felt soled boots NOT responsible for dydimo spread

    Max Bothwell, a research scientist for Environment Canada, who wrote an influential article that linked angler's felt soled boots to dydimo spread has now reversed himself and said that anglers are not responsible.

    Here is his original article, On the Boots of Fishermen:

    http://www.env.gov.bc.ca/wat/wq/stud...ymo-blooms.pdf

    He now believes that dydimo has been in North American waters and that it is a change in water chemistry, specifically lower phosphorus levels that has caused dydimo blooms.

    Read the article in the current issue of American Angler, July-August, 2013, pp 8-9.

    "'I no longer believe the problem is North American streams is the result of it (dydimo) being moved around.' ?. Scientists are now convinced that dydimo lives in many streams, but blooms only when the water has far less than the normal amount of phosphorus?? The most damaging dydimo episode in the US seems to have been on Rapid Creek in South Dakota, where a six-mile bloom dramatically impacted a blue ribbon brown trout fishery. In 2007 and 2008, Bothwell and other scientists added phosphorus to sections of Rapid Creek. Sure enough, the dydimo mats shrank."
    Regards,

    Silver

    "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"..........Szent-Gyorgy

  2. #2
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    If it was the felt soles, then you would have to ad the boot it self, the laces, and the inside of the boot.

  3. #3
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    Quote Originally Posted by krauseb View Post
    If it was the felt soles, then you would have to ad the boot it self, the laces, and the inside of the boot.
    If you go directly from stream to stream without the boots drying, you're correct. Drying, however, kills didymo (unlike whirling disease spores), so those areas will be ok if you just dry the boots. The problem with felt soles is that they stay wet inside for weeks, making it much more likely that you're going to transport didymo for the stream you fished this weekend to the one you're going to fish next weekend.
    Bob

  4. #4
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    Figures............threw away 2 pair of felt sole boots.

    Manufacturers are loving this stuff.

    Since the bell has been rung, I would doubt that there would be any reversal on the position of things now.
    They will probably keep them outlawed.

  5. #5
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    easier to outlaw than to return...especially when something "sounds good". kinda like Affordable Care Act
    ‎"Trust, but verify" - Russian Proverb, as used by Ronald Reagan

  6. #6

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    Actually, nothing in what you quoted supports your thread title. He said that he no longer believe that didymo spread is the major threat, but nothing that you quoted indicates he no longer believes that didymo is not spread by felt soles and other angler's clothing. Rather, he said that the didymo has largely been spread already, and now it's just a matter of stream conditions which determine how active it is. Maybe there's something else in the article that supports the title (I haven't read it), but what you quoted does not.

  7. #7
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    Why post the original and only a quote from the new?
    ‎"Trust, but verify" - Russian Proverb, as used by Ronald Reagan

  8. #8
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    Because the current AA article is not available on line.
    Regards,

    Silver

    "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"..........Szent-Gyorgy

  9. #9
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    Quote Originally Posted by Poke 'Em View Post
    Actually, nothing in what you quoted supports your thread title. He said that he no longer believe that didymo spread is the major threat, but nothing that you quoted indicates he no longer believes that didymo is not spread by felt soles and other angler's clothing. Rather, he said that the didymo has largely been spread already, and now it's just a matter of stream conditions which determine how active it is. Maybe there's something else in the article that supports the title (I haven't read it), but what you quoted does not.


    I think you are correct. The point being made is that dydimo is already endemic and pervasive in North America. Dydimo has already spread and banning felt is not a solution to preventing further spread.

    I think this recent discovery makes more sense than the old theory that all of a sudden dydimo sprang due to anglers boots when anglers have been using these same rivers for over a century with no dydimo blooms.


    What is causing the dydimo blooms, I surmise, is the current trend of reducing phosphorus in detergents and lawn fertilizer. So as we get rid of phosphorus to prevent algae blooms we get dydimo blooms.

    Ever wonder why NZ has such a problem with dydimo? They have lots of crystal clear streams and rivers with low phosphorus because there is little run off from agriculture and lawns.

    Basic epidemiology 101 states that we cannot stop the spread of what has already spread. How we then prevent disease is to make the target population less receptive to the disease.

    In rivers that have dydimo blooms, I suggest we need to monitor phosphorus and experiment by allowing some phosphorus back into lawn fertilizers in dydimo prone watersheds. Perhaps there is a phosphorus level that is too high to allow dydimo to bloom and too low to allow algae to bloom. In science we call this the "Goldilocks effect"

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Goldilocks_principle

    A similar phenomenom to the dydimo bloom was the increase in sea lamprey in Lake Superior a few decades ago. Biologist discovered that as the rivers flowing into Lake Superior were cleaner due to EPA monitoring of industrial waste, sea lamprey began to use them for spawning. So barriers were installed. Since we cannot install a mechanical barrier to dydimo, perhaps phosphorus can serve as a chemical barrier.


    Regards,

    Silver

    "Discovery consists of seeing what everybody has seen and thinking what nobody has thought"..........Szent-Gyorgy

  10. #10
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    Whether it is spread or not spread by fisherman to me doesn't matter. If nothing else it made us more aware of didymo and it's impact.

    For me personally is that the thought that it was spread by felt soled boots led to the developement and improvement of rubber non slip soles. Which I like. For years I fished spring creeks (wet grass & mud banks) wearing felt soled boots and cannot begin to count the times I have slipped and almost busted my back side. So I for one am glad that rubber soles came along. I still have a pair of felt soled boots, just in case I ever book a trip in a drift boat. But that is not likely to happen.

    Dave
    " If a man is truly blessed, he returns home from fishing to the best catch of his life." Christopher Armour

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