A Los Angeles resident was fined $5,000 by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on Aug. 25 for evading Lake Tahoe boat inspectors in late-June, according to news reports.
In a unanimous decision, TRPA’s legal committee agreed to the fine and recommended that Mark Kanev of Los Angeles make a public apology for purposefully evading inspectors after his vessel was recommended for decontamination.
Tahoe Regional Planning Agency officials reported that Kanew tried to launch his vessel on June 28 at Cave Rock. Inspectors turned him away after he told inspectors that the boat had been in southern Utah's quagga-mussel-infested Sand Hollow Reservoir. After finding water in the boat, inspectors ordered a full decontamination scheduled for July 1.
Inspectors later learned that Kanew took the vessel to the Meyers inspection station on June 28 and gave different information about the boat's origin. Kanev then launched his boat at Meeks Bay. TRPA officials found the vessel moored in Rubicon Bay on July 1 and had it removed from Lake Tahoe.
The TRPA reported that the water in Meeks Bay Marina and the area the boat had been moored was tested for quagga and zebra mussel DNA. The tests indicated that no quagga or zebra mussels were present. The boater is the first to be sanctioned by the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency.
