I just want to clarify one thing. The Western Aquatic Invasive Species Resource Center is active in a number of Canadian provinces. British Columbia, Alberta and Saskatchewan are part of this group. I gave the example of some states that have washing stations on their borders, but Alberta has some as well.
I was surprised to hear that Transport Canada said that it had nothing to do with this fight. Transport Canada manages boat registrations and licences for pleasure craft operators, and the focus should really be on pleasure craft. Outside the Great Lakes, pleasure craft are responsible for introducing invasive species into uncontaminated bodies of water.
Many states use the fees for the annual renewal of boat licences to help support their anti‑contamination program. This means that the boaters who pose the greatest threat must fund the programs to reduce these risks and threats.
In terms of measures for right now, Transport Canada has a program for ships equipped with ballast tanks. This program requires the installation of systems that filter and sterilize the water entering the ballast tanks. We should require similar systems in all boats equipped with ballast tanks. For example, a boat designed for water sports may be equipped with ballast tanks with a capacity of hundreds of litres. It draws all this ballast into the boat. If the operator forgets to empty these tanks, the boat could be carrying hundreds of litres of contaminated water. Without a filtration system, it's impossible to clean this water. It's even impossible to empty these ballast tanks completely. Either Transport Canada must set up inspection and decontamination stations, or it must enforce its current ballast regulations and make cleaning and sterilization systems mandatory in all ballast tanks.