Clean, Drain, and Dry Before Launching

A boat launch check protects the next lake as much as the current trip. Boats, trailers, waders, and other fishing or boating equipment can spread aquatic invasive species unless they are cleaned, dried, or disinfected after use. State law requires boaters to take those steps before launching watercraft, including motor boats, canoes, kayaks, and jet skis, into public waterbodies. Some species are too small to notice.

Before leaving an access site, remove plants, mud, fish, animals, and debris; drain live wells and bilges; dry what can be dried; and use a steward or decontamination station when available.

For New York, let the record lead. Use NYSDEC: Clean, Drain, Dry for the public starting point, then keep the exact boating or aquatic invasive species, search date, and identifying number with the file. Keep the office name with the file too: New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. If the answer affects money, title, access, a permit, a license, or a deadline, that name keeps the next call from starting cold. New York boating or aquatic invasive species paperwork is less fussy when the address, parcel, citation, account, or application number is written down early.