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Boat Haulers - Call Before You Haul

To prevent the spread of aquatic invasive species, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission, Bonneville Power Administration, U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, Western Regional Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species, and others are making information available to boat haulers, auctioneers, marinas, manufacturers, and brokers to make it easy to comply with state, provincial and federal laws, prevent costly delays in transporting or selling boats, and help reduce the spread of aquatic invasive species. 

There remains a significant number of infested watercraft coming from the Great Lakes region of the United States and Canada and the Lower Colorado River Region to western states. Call Before You Haul is an effort to work collaboratively with national entities to reduce interstate transport of aquatic invasive species - for the benefit of all states and provinces. 

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The Midwest and Southwest regions of the United States are two key areas of the country that serve as source locations for watercraft intercepted with dreissenids by Pacific Northwest states.

Overall Dreissenid-Infested Watercraft Interceptions by OR, WA, MT, WY, and ID, 2012-2023
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For a link to a video of the 1-hour webinar, click here.

For a copy of the slide deck that was used for this webinar, click here.

Montana Fish, Wildlife, & Parks produced this map illustrating watercraft intercepted by Montana watercraft inspection and decontamination staff as the watercraft were transported to their destination locations (blue dots) from their source water bodies (red dots). The agency confirmed that 1/3 of the vessels were commercially hauled and 50% of the watercraft were recently purchased.

Call Before You Haul 

In December of 2021, the Pacific States Marine Fisheries Commission  launched Call Before You Haul, a program that provides a 24-7 toll-free number that commercial and other watercraft haulers can call before transporting a boat to Columbia River Basin states. The caller provides information about the source and destination of the watercraft, and the four states (as well as Canada and British Columbia) are notified that the watercraft is being shipped. The destination state, or province, then contacts the hauler to obtain additional information, or make arrangements for the watercraft to be inspected, and decontaminated (if applicable).

Information was being provided to each state for uploading to its commercial hauler and overweight/oversize website and permit application system, which watercraft haulers see when requesting transportation permits. In addition, direct outreach is made to watercraft carriers and shippers online, boat dealerships and organizations, and boat brokers to inform them about the program. 

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Outreach to commercial watercraft haulers included this sticker haulers could affix to a clipboard or their dashboard (similar to an oil change sticker) as a reminder to call the toll free number prior to transport.

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Call Before You Haul Progress Map

This map illustrates the progress being made with state departments of transportation, highway patrol, and motor vehicles to provide information about Call Before You Haul on their state permitting and transportation websites. Map updated 9 April 2024.

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State actions:

Alabama Department of Transportation

Added Call Before You Haul link to their Oversize/Overweight Permits website

Alaska

Added CBYH link to their Commercial Vehicle Customer Service Center website: https://dot.alaska.gov/mscve/pages/permits.shtml.

Arkansas

Arkansas Highway Police Permit Office will be sharing Call Before You Haul information with any carriers hauling watercraft.

California

Caltrans added a link to the Call Before You Haul website on their permits homepage:
https://dot.ca.gov/programs/traffic-operations/transportation-permits

Colorado Department of Transportation

CDOT's Freight Mobility and Safety Branch is providing links to the Call Before You Haul webpage: https://freight.colorado.gov/resources

Delaware

Delaware DOT is willing able able to pass the information about the program on to any that asks, but they have no mechanism in place yet to share electronically.

Florida

FDOT posted the Call Before You Haul flyer on its PO website and the PAS webpage.

Idaho

Idaho DOT added link to Call Before You Haul information on Idaho DOT permitting website.

Illinois Department of Transportation

General Provisions (see page 3)

Indiana Department of Transportation

INDOT staff are working with Department of Revenue - Motor Carrier Division to post information on their OSW website

Iowa Department of Transportation

Link added to Iowa DOT Motor Carrier Resources page: https://iowadot.gov/mvd/motorcarriers/Oversize-Overweight-Trip-permits

Restrictions added to permits when the load description is a boat or watercraft vessel.

Kansas

Kansas DOT added "Northwest - Call Before You Haul" notification to their home page under Traveler Information, Aquatic Nuisance Species.

Kentucky Department of Transportation

Overweight/Over-Dimensional Services

Louisiana

Louisiana DOT added Call Before You Haul brochure to their permitting website.

Maine Bureau of Motor Vehicles

Added Call Before You Haul information to Special Restrictions on Standard Permit Form for Intra/Interstate Travel for Non-divisible Oversize And/or Overweight Loads

Maryland

Maryland DOT added Call Before You Haul to their Commercial Vehicle Operations webpage. In addition, Maryland posted a notification on its Maryland One Permit System webpage for all who obtain permits, and emailed to all users with a login.

Michigan

Added the Call Before You Haul here: https://www.michigan.gov/mdot/business/truckers under Resources. They are exploring adding the same information to their OSOW web page.

Minnesota Department of Transportation

Annual Noncommercial Boat Hauler Permit | Single Trip Permit | Annual Commercial Boat Hauler Permit

Minnesota DOT Office of Freight and Commercial Vehicle Operations provides CBYH information on their website, and adds language about CBYH to their commercial boat hauler, non-commercial boat hauler annual permits, and single trip permits that have "boat" as the load description.

Missouri

Missouri DOT is distributing the Call Before You Haul flier to all OSOW boat permits.

Montana Department of Transportation

Commercially Transported Watercraft

New York Department of Transportation

Added "Boat Haulers - Call Before You Haul" to the Special Hauling (oversize) permits website.

Nevada Department of Transportation

State of Nevada Commercial Vehicle Service

New Jersey Department of Transportation

Added Call Before You Haul link to Bulletin section of Superload website.

New Mexico

New Mexico DOT added a link to their Ports of Entry webpage that provides information about trip and oversize/overweight permits.

North Carolina

North Carolina DOT added the Call Before You Haul Link to their Oversize/Overweight Permit Operations website.

North Dakota Highway Patrol

Added Call Before You Haul to their Motor Carrier Operations website.

Ohio Department of Transportation

Added Call Before You Haul information to their permits website.

Oregon Department of Transportation

Agency posted the information on their Motor Carrier News webpage: https://www.oregon.gov/odot/MCT/Pages/MCNews.aspx

Pennsylvania Department of Transportation

PENNDOT's Hauling Information Webpage

Rhode Island

Rhode Island DOT added the Call Before You Haul link to the RIDOT Permitting website and will permanently post on their FAQs sheet.

South Carolina

South Carolina DOT added the Call Before You Haul link to their OSOW website page.

South Dakota

Added Call Before You Haul to their permitting system as well as the South Dakota Trucking website.

Tennessee

Tennessee DOT has added the Call Before You Haul link to the TN OSOW Permitting website (TNTRIPS) under Support, and has added the Call Before You Haul flier to all single and annual permits.

Texas

Texas Parks and Wildlife added the link to their website. Texas DOT chose not to participate.

Utah Department of Transportation

Oversize Non-Divisible Load Provisions
 

Vermont Department of Motor Vehicles/Vermont Agency of Transportation

Vermont DMV/AT added the Call Before You Haul link/notification to their commercial vehicle operations page.

Virginia

Virginia DOT added CBYH information and hyperlink to the log on page of their new hauling permit website, EZ Haul. Carriers obtaining Hauling Permits will be able to locate this information on the main screen under "Important News and Announcements". The website is:  ezhaulvirginia.com. 

Washington

Added Call Before You Haul website link from Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife webpage to their Maps & resources for commercial vehicles | WSDOT (wa.gov)

Wisconsin Department of Transportation

Single Trip Oversize/Overweight Permit | Multiple Trip Permit to Transport
 

PENDING ACTIONS

 

Oklahoma

Will be posting on Oklahoma Department of Public Safety Size and Weights Permits website. The Size & Weights Permit Division within the Oklahoma Department of Public Safety was recently incorporated into the Oklahoma Department of Transportation. 

Georgia Department of Public Safety/Department of Transportation

Agency will be updating boat/yacht transport permits to include Call Before You Haul information for next computer upgrade.

Wyoming

Wyoming Highway Patrol is connecting to PSMFC's Facebook page post on Call Before You Haul and adding the Call Before You Haul link to their permitting website.

Arizona

Arizona DOT is adding Call Before You Haul as a condition to their permits.

Massachusetts

Will be adding link to Call Before You Haul to their Mass511 online system.

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