LAKE COUNTY, Calif. – A San Jose man was arrested last weekend after he allegedly was found boating in Clear Lake without an invasive mussel inspection sticker on his boat.

Robert Karl Berrett, 50, was arrested on a misdemeanor charge for operating his 1997 Seaswirl Vessel without having the required mussel inspection sticker, according to a report from Sgt. John Gregore of the Lake County Sheriff's Office.

Gregore said that on Saturday, Aug. 13, a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the Marine Patrol Division responded to a report of a vessel being operated without a quagga mussel sticker and contacted Berrett.

Berrett subsequently was arrested for the violation and released with a citation for violation of Lake County Code section 15-56.1, Gregore said.

All misdemeanors require a mandatory booking a minimum of five days prior to the court appearance. As a result, Berrett went to the Lake County Jail the next day and was booked and released on his promise to appear, according to Gregore.

The stickers are required as evidence that boats have passed a mandatory screening to ensure that they do not carry invasive quagga and zebra mussels.

The county has been tightening up its rules regarding the invasive mussels prevention program, with the Board of Supervisors earlier this year passing an updated ordinance to make launching a boat without a sticker a misdemeanor, with increased fines, as Lake County News has reported.

This spring, the District Attorney's Office began the first prosecutions in cases where boaters had entered Clear Lake without the stickers.

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