DFG to scan boats along I-5 for invasive mussel species
By Thom Gabrukiewicz (Contact)
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
More about mussels
• For information about the mussels, call 1-866-440-9530.
• For more information on efforts to fight quagga and zebra mussel species, go to
www.dfg.ca.gov/invasives/quaggamussel.
• To learn what boaters can do to avoid the spread of the mussels, go to
http://www.dfg.ca.gov/invasives/quag...ga_boaters.pdf.
Memorial Day weekend boaters could be turned away from north state waterways if their boats are found to harbor evidence of two invasive mussels species.
The Department of Fish and Game will conduct mandatory boat inspections along Interstate 5 near Redding between 2 and 8 p.m. Thursday and Friday to check for quagga and zebra mussels.
“The economic and environmental impact from these mussels is huge,” said Sherry Howell, a captain with the DFG’s law enforcement division in Redding. “It has the potential to be a very significant problem.”
In February, the California Legislature gave the DFG broad powers to stop and inspect boats across the state. DFG inspectors advise boaters to clean, drain and dry their vessels to avoid being turned away from lakes, reservoirs and rivers going into the weekend — and the traditional start to summer.
At the DFG checkpoint on I-5, vehicles pulling watercraft will be directed to exit at the California Highway Patrol Cottonwood Inspection Facility. As vehicles enter the scales, DFG wardens will ask boat owners a series of questions. Clean vessels will be released back onto the Interstate; boaters with suspect vessels will be inspected further by biologists and specially trained detection dogs.
Dirty vessels — those that have not been cleaned, drained and dried — could be quarantined.
“We don’t anticipate quarantining any vessels,” Howell said. “We just need to get the word out” and halt the spread of the mussels before they reach Lake Shasta, Whiskeytown Lake or other cold-water reservoirs and rivers in the north state.
Zebra mussels have long been a scourge of the Great Lakes since they were first found in the late 1980s — probably brought from its native eastern European waters in the ballast tanks of cargo ships. Quagga mussels followed, probably from the Ukraine. Both can live three to five days out of water in the summer — and up to 30 days in the winter.
Both mussels start small — smaller than a fingernail — but can become a huge problem. A congressional study of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes region found that the mussel cost the power industry $3.1 billion during 1993-1999, with an economic impact on businesses, communities and industry of $5 billion.
The mussels are filter feeders and strain nutrients out of the water that other, native small aquatic animals and plants rely on, according to Randy Benthin, a DFG senior fisheries biologist in Redding. The mussels can knock out the foundation of the food chain for many fish. The mussels also clog pipes and ruin boat motors as they infest a body of water.
The quagga mussel, a cousin of the zebra mussel, was discovered in California in January of 2007 at Lake Havasu. They’ve also been found in other reservoirs along the Colorado River and the worry is they could cling to boats and infest other bodies of water up and down the state.
“We don’t want them here,” Howell said.
To help prevent the spread of the mussels, boaters should inspect all exposed surfaces, wash boat hulls thoroughly, remove all plant material from the boat and trailer, drain all water, including lower outboard units, clean and dry livewells and bait buckets, and dispose of leftover baitfish in the trash.
Watercraft should be dried for at least five days between launches in different fresh bodies of water, Howell said.
Reporter Thom Gabrukiewicz can be reached at 225-8230 or at
tgabrukiewicz@redding.com.
http://www.redding.com/news/2008/may...ussel-species/ 
Linear Mode
