Cumberland Times-News

CUMBERLAND — Maryland will seek to ban the use of felt-soled waders and hip boots by anglers beginning next year in an effort to prevent the spread of an invasive algae to the state’s trout streams, according to Jonathan McKnight of the Department of Natural Resources.

Didymo, with the street name rock snot, exists in the Gunpowder River near Baltimore and in the lower Savage River in Garrett County.

It has also been confirmed in streams in West Virginia, Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Didymo sometimes forms dense mats. It is not a threat to human health but it can cover the stream bottom and suffocate beneficial organisms. It can also create difficult fishing conditions, fouling lines and terminal tackle. The mats may persist even after the algae dies, causing habitat damage for an extended period of time. Rock snot looks slimy, but feels like wet wool or cotton, and can be white, brown or yellow.

Didymo first turned up in Maryland in 2008 in Gunpowder Falls below Prettyboy Reservoir. Subsequent monthly DNR surveys in the Gunpowder watershed have shown that densities peak in late winter, particularly in the Falls Road area. It is too early to tell how didymo may impact aquatic insects and other important organisms in the food web.

Didymo has been spreading rapidly into clean cold streams along the Eastern Seaboard for the past few years.

“The better the trout stream, the more didymo likes it,” McKnight said Wednesday. “We believe that fishermen, particularly fly fishermen who travel from one high-profile trout stream to another, transport didymo in the felt soles of their waders.”

Recent studies in Japan show didymo can live up to a month in the felt soles, according to McKnight.

McKnight, who is the DNR’s associate director for habitat conservation, said he is particularly concerned about keeping didymo out of the upper Savage and its tributaries as well as the Casselman and the Youghiogheny rivers.

A year ago, numerous scrubbing stations were installed along the state’s trout streams so that anglers could disinfect their waders. McKnight said 10 more stations are ready to be installed alongside trout streams in far Western Maryland.

“I want to get the word out about this possible regulation change because I don’t want fishermen buying felt-soled boots that will become illegal to use. And I don’t want dealers, especially the small dealers, stocking them and then not being able to sell them.”

Dan Miller, manager of Super Shoe Store at Motor City, said Wednesday that felt-soled waders are the store’s No. 1 seller to anglers.

“This will affect the Hodgman waders and all of the neoprene gear,” he said. “It will have an impact upon us, certainly. Fishermen use the felt-soled boots because they don’t want to swim or sink,” Miller added, referring to the fact that felt slips less than lugged soles on submerged surfaces.

McKnight said Alaska and Vermont are also moving to create similar regulations.

McKnight was unsure Wednesday about the process to quickly enact such a regulation. The Maryland Fisheries Service has already conducted public regulation meetings and the change in footwear was not proposed.

“As long as there is one trout stream without didymo, it is worth fighting to keep it out,” McKnight said.

Contact Michael A. Sawyers at msawyers@times-news.com.