The Science of Felt

[FISHEYE]

Recently, much has been posted in the internet about the upcoming Alaska ban on felt soles on wading boots. Here is an informative piece about the science of felt.


http://www.stopans.org/Science_of_felt.php

[amoeba]

Been there, read that, and it is NOT SCIENCE; that site comes from TU, and all it sites are unpublished, non-peer-reviewed, MS thesis - level studies that look at dirty wading materials. Nothing is done with cleaning methods, or with model studies of vector transfers. It says absolutely nothing that would warrant consideration of a felt ban. If anything, vibram should be banned because uncleaned vibram releases material into other waters (including foreign vector organisms), much easier than from felt. Their conclusion is the problem is felt. The information provided on that site doesn't support it.

This is what I posted, on 3/26/10, response to huntindog

ORIGINAL POST
Originally Posted by huntindog
have there been real studies done showing that felt soles cause more harm than any other part of our wading apparrel. I have heard more than one person say that this is entirely industry driven (aka a way to sell more boots). I am not doubting but i did a couple quick searches and couldn't find anything. Just curious.

MY REPLY

Not really, and your doubts are understandable. It appears that the problem is dirt, not felt. But we don't know since no one looked at felt after attempts to clean it.

You will find a something out their from TU - which is limited to some gray literature at the MS grad school level. The studies show that:

1. all wading materials, if not washed at all, carry organisms, and that vibram, neoprene, or breathable wader material release the organisms into water more than does felt.

2. felt, if not washed, carries more dirt around than other materials. since it doesn't come out of felt as easily (actually, the problem organisms didn't come out of it at all), I'm not sure what that means.

3. felt stays wet longer.

4. at least 75% of fishermen (in Montana) do not wash equipment between each use.

There have been studies of chemical and heat methods on viability of organisms, but not on whether the remaining viable organisms (would result in a transfer of a vector into another environment (i.e., in a lab setting, of course, such as a model stream). All this is possible, it just hasn't been done. What has been done is examination of viable/unviable residual organisms swabbed from the surface, and cultured in media. That's not the same as walking in a stream. Think of it like someone taking a swab of a toilet flush handle - and tracing it on some nutrient agar. You'll come up with all kinds of diseases. But we don't wear masks and gloves in those circumstances. The reason is that our bodies, like the environment, can resist small levels of exposure. Most of this is a function of inoculum size, not presence/absence.

Realize that none of those methods, whether its a pressure hose, or hot water, are the same as sterilization, such as for under high heat/pressure as is done for surgical instruments at a hospital, which would kill everything, and probably destroy your fishing equipment. But again, you could test, and determine the extent to which more practical methods such as pressure-washing, scrubbing with soap, and doing that with felt or rubber or anything else, reduce the risk of non-cleaning relative to sterilization or whether they are the same.

I too would like to know if the material makes a difference. If I were to have an opinion, it would be that cleaning