Conference wahoo::fishing-v2

    [excerpted without permission from
    
    ZEBRA MUSSELS: A 1991 GREAT LAKES OVERVIEW
    
    Produced by the Great Lakes Sea Grant Network]
    
    This potential environmental and economic damage was quickly realized 
    [in 1988] when zebra mussels began clogging up pipes in water
    treatment, 
    utility, and manufacturing plants at numerous locations around the 
    Great Lakes.
    
    The impact eventually spread to boaters and marina owners, who needed 
    to find ways of removing the mussels from boat hulls, piers, and 
    buoys. Many buoys became so encrusted with zebra mussels that they 
    sank.
    
    Shorelines have become littered with dead zebra mussels and their 
    sharp shells have made a simple walk along the beach a hazardous 
    undertaking. And the smell of large numbers of dead and rotting zebra 
    mussels is enough to ruin any family's day at the lakefront.
    
    As the zebra mussel invasion has expanded, so too has the cost to 
    control them. Official estimates run from $100 million to somewhat 
    less than $500 million annually throughout the Great Lakes. Industry 
    groups such as the Empire State Electric Energy Research Corporation 
    (ESEERCO) and political representatives from throughout the region 
    have sought funding to undertake research and information efforts.
    .
    .
    .
    .
    In an effort to help people deal with these midget monster mussels, 
    the Sea Grant Marine Advisory Service makes the following suggestions:
    
            * Scraping is the currently recommended method of removal 
              if you have zebra mussels on docks or piers. Be advised 
              that live mussels may be able to reattach to hard surfaces, 
              so the scraped mussels should be caught in a bag or bucket. 
              This is also important if the mussels are dead, because they 
              foul the water and create and obnoxious odor as they decay.
    
              Depending on the degree of infestation, scraping once or 
              twice a month should keep colonies under control. A large 
              buildup should be avoided because the mussels' waste 
              excretions speed up corrosion of docks and piers.
    
            * When transporting a boat, drain all bilge water, live wells, 
              and bait buckets before leaving infested areas. Leftover 
              bait should not be transported from infested waterways to 
              uninfested waters.
    
            * Thoroughly inspect your boat's hull, outdrive, trim plates, 
              trolling plates, prop guards, transducers, trailers, and 
              other parts exposed to infested waters. "Hitchhiking" 
              mussels should be scraped off.
    
            * Thoroughly flush hulls, outdrive units, live wells (and 
              pumping systems), bilge, trailer frames, anchors and anchor 
              ropes, bait buckets, raw water engine cooling systems, and 
              other boat parts and accessories that typically get wet 
              using HOT (140 degrees F or hotter) water. Using a 
              pressurized steam cleaner or high pressure power washer 
              would also be effective, require less time, and be 
              environmentally compatible.
    
            * Boats and trailers should be allowed to dry thoroughly in 
              the sun before being transported to uninfested waterways.
    
            * On boats that remain in the water, zebra mussels can attach 
              to outdrives, covering or entering water intakes and 
              resulting in clogging, engine overheating, and damage to 
              cooling system parts. Mussels on and around props and shafts 
              can increase drivetrain wear. If possible, avoid leaving 
              outdrives in the down position. Hulls and drive units should 
              be inspected and scraped free of mussels.
    
            * Antifouling paints may be effective in preventing attachment 
              of zebra mussels to boat hulls, outdrive units, propellers, 
              and other underwater boat components and accessories. 
              Consult with your local marine dealer or manufacturer for 
              applicability and local use or environmental restrictions. 
              Hull waxes do not appear to be effective.
    
            * When going to the beach, make sure you that you take sandals 
              or some other kind of footwear. Broken zebra mussel shells 
              are very sharp. Before you settle in, inspect the beach site 
              and clear it of as many shells as possible.
    
    
    
    

     My Uncle told me (don't know if its true), that they 
    filter out about a quart of water a minute..hour (?). 
    That they are cleaning  up the water in lake Earie. He
    made it sound like a benifit unstead of a problem.
    
    chuck 

    re: .2
    
    Chuck---
    
    The creatures killed by ZMs also filter water. A quart a minute, or
    even a quart an hour, sounds more than a little excessive. ZMs are
    found in enormous clusters. If each one of them moved a quart of water
    an hour, there would be seriously confusing tidal-quality currents
    running through every body of water they infested.
    
    One of these things weighs less than an ounce. Imagine how many it took
    to sink the navigation buoys that tipped people off to the problem?
    
    I'm sure boat-engine manufacturers/dealers are close to ecstatic about 
    the ZM  invasion, basically guaranteeing them revenue for parts,
    repairs, and rebuilds.
    
    John H-C 

    
    	Their waste products cause localized acidification of reefs and
    outcroppings that are used by many species as spawning areas.
    
    	They compete with native lifeforms that are used as food supplies
    by native fish species.
    
    	They are not eaten by native species-excpt the Sheepshead(??)
    
    	

    
    
    
       We are starting to see an increase in these little buggers around
    the sodus point area on lake O, tuesday nigt we were out fishing and
    hung up a j plug on bottom, well when we got the plug back there was a 
    nice big zm an one of the hooks (hooked through the belly) it was about
    the size of a grape.
    
       I read an article out here (still trying to find it) about a
    biologist from erie pennsylvania who discovered a deadly chemical for
    the zm for the life of me I cant remember what chemical it is, but they
    think this chemical will be used since they feel it wont hurt other
    aquatic life.
    
      I will look through my mags,books,papers this weekend to see I can
    find it, its a very informative article, hopefully my wife didnt throw
    it out!! she has a bad habbit of doing that, I threatened to develope a
    bad habbit of throwing something out too....she didnt find humor in it!
    
                                                        Lee
    

    Do these guys live only in fresh water ponds?  What about rivers and
    salt water?
    
    Gordon

    
    	I beleive the chemical is some kind of potassium.
    
    
    	Chuck
    	(Born and raised in Erie!)

    re: .6
    
    Freshwater only. Rivers, streams, lakes, or ponds, they like `em all.
    
    They made their way here in the freshwater ballast in one or more
    central European ships that came down the St. Lawrence seaway to pick up
    material in the Great Lakes. The ship dumped its ballast when it took
    on its cargo. What's most amazing is that it took so long to happen,
    given the casual manner with which commercial operations have always
    treated the water that is their livelihood.
    
    John H-C 

    
    
    Potassium, yeah I believe thats the one! They also say chlorine kills
    them but it also kills fish pretty well too....
    
      I will still look for the article.
    
                              Lee 
                      who is originally from PA also
    

    Potassium Sulfate
    Potassium Chloride
    
    Hope it's neither of those. They are hardly harmless to other aquatic
    species....
    
    John H-C

    
    
       Opened up the Sunday newspaper yesterday, and right on the front
    page was  a picture of a ZM.  Apparently someone found one in the 
    upper Mississippi.  Stations have already been setup around this area
    to watch for them.  Unfortunatly I don't think folks around here know
    or knew what a ZM is.  Hopefully the papers will keep up with any news
    so people will know the hazards.
    
    
    Bear
    
    

    Well, expletive!
    Found ZMz in the upper Mississippi? You can bet they're already all the
    way up to the upper Ohio and Upper Missouri by now (and every river in
    between).
    
    John H-C

    
    
    
    
                        STRIPED MENACE
    
    
             Zebra Mussels Found in Mississippi river; 
                  Minnesota Lakes Next Likely Target 
    
    
    By Charles Laszewski in Underwater USA/November 1991
    [reproduced without permission]
    
    The tiny but dreaded zebra mussel has been discovered for the 
    first time in a section of the Mississippi River near La Crosse, 
    Wisconsin, a U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service toxicologist reports.
    
    Leif Marking says he expects to see the ZM population explode by 
    next year. Worse, it's likely boaters will inadvertently 
    introduce the ZMs to Minnesota lakes.
    
    "The important thing is to stop their spread," Marking says. "We 
    have to inform people that they can be spread from one 
    watershed to another."
    
    ZMs are a form of clam native to Europe that first turned up in 
    Lake Erie in June 1988, probably arriving in the ballast of an 
    ocean freighter.
    
    A year later, there were 700,000 per square yard in parts of the 
    lake.
    
    The mussels have an extremely hard shell and clog water intakes 
    at power  plants and municipal water systems. The Monroe, 
    Michigan water supply was crippled for three days when the 
    mussels clogged an intake pipe. An Ontario electric company 
    spent $10 million on chlorine to keep the mussels out of power 
    plant water intake pipes.
    
    Marking expects the same things to happen at power and water 
    plants on the Mississippi. He says locks and dams also are 
    favored by the mussels, which cause leaks and prevent gates from 
    closing completely.
    
    The ZMs also will hurt native clams and fish such as walleye, 
    whitefish, and salmon.
    
    Marking says the ZMs attach themselves to the shells of native 
    clams in such large numbers that they smother the clams.
    The ZMs also take nutrients from the water, leaving significantly 
    less food for other species.
    
    "That's happening right now," Marking says. "We get reports on 
    how clear the water is. That's all there is --- clear water and 
    nothing else."
    
    An adult-sized, 11-millimeter ZM was found attached to a Pig Toe 
    clam just south of La Crosse by a biologist working with Marking 
    at the National Fisheries Research Center in La Crosse.
    
    The researchers have scooped up several thousand clams for a 
    research project that hopes to find a chemical that will 
    eradicate ZMs without harming native clams. Researchers at Ohio 
    State University are using everything from chemicals that kill 
    snails to hydrogen peroxide, Marking says.
    
    Diving ducks [scaups] and sheepshead fish are natural predators, 
    but they cannot control the massive numbers of ZMs.
    
    Marking says boaters and anglers must be careful not to transport 
    the ZMs in minnow buckets, live traps, water pumps, or on boat 
    hulls while traveling from river to lake.
    
    The ZM larva is the size of a pinhead and can survive out of 
    water for up to 14 days.
    
    (Knight-Ridder News Service)
    

Article: 2223
From: [email protected]
Newsgroups: clari.tw.science
Subject: Company says it has new weapon in zebra mussel fight
Date: 16 Dec 91 15:25:23 GMT
 
	DETROIT (UPI) -- Researchers at a New Jersey company say they have
come up with an effective defense against the zebra mussel, but some
experts in Michigan aren't convinced.
                                                 
	Garlock Valves and Industrial Plastics of Camden, N.J., has patented
a product called Z-GARD, a polyethylene material impregnated with
mollusk-killing chemicals that serves as a protective lining for mussel-
exposed surfaces.

	The product was successfully tested from May through October at 11
locations on Lakes Huron, Erie and Ontario, said company spokesman
Michael Dunn.  He said Z-GARD ``does not appear to pose a threat to other
forms of aquatic life and drinking water.''

	Experts at Detroit Edison Co. are skeptical, however. The utility
permitted Garlock to test Z-GARD at its mussel-plagued Monroe water
plant over the summer.

	``It's an interesting idea and looks promising,'' said William
Kovalak, an Edison biologist, ``but it needs additional testing.''

	Zebra mussels are small enough to slip through protective screens.
They glue themselves into vast colonies, clogging water-supply systems
and encrusting boat hulls.

	Experts say the mussels are causing an estimated $500 million in
damage each year from the Great Lakes to the Hudson River.

From:    Cliff Sumbler 
To:      Eddie Warren                             Msg #40, 02-Mar-92 02:29am
Subject: Re: Great Lakes Diving


Well there is good news and there is bad news in that [zebra mussel] area.  
The good news is that has been a trmendouse increase in vis. in areas of heavy
infestation.  Example I have been diving in Lake Erie for many years,
prior to the Zebra Mussel, the average vis in this end (EAST) of the
lake was 10 to 15 feet, in June or so before the plankton bloomed you
could get and exceptional day with about 35 feet or so. Now the last two
years with the Zebra mussel the average vis has increased to about 50
feet, in June and July 100 foot days are were not uncommon.  One wreck
in particular in about 70 ft. required divers to take lights because the
thickness of the plankton made total darkness at that depth.  The last
time I visited it, it was visable FOR THE SURFACE.  You could look over
the side of the boat and clearly make out the wreck in 70 feet of water.
The bad side is that now that we have all this great vis. there is
nothing to see, all the wrecks are turning in to these huge piles of
Zebra mussels, with encrustaions being measureed in some areas in FEET,
not inches..Entire 500 foot ships encased in seveal inches of small
mussels. A big Zebra Mussel can measure about an inch or so in lenght.

The worst thing, on Feb 22, I attended a meeting for local divers but on
by a branch of the government. Their expert said that we have a
mutant strain here.  And they are not responding to the control
methods that have been used against them in Europe (where they were
believed to come from) for 300 years.

 * SLMR 2.1a * If it's "Tourist Season" why can't we shoot 'em?
--- SuperQWK 1.16 Gamma-1 (Reg)
 * Origin: 2nd Class SBBS! St. Catharines ONT +1-416-984-6647 (1:247/120)




Article: 3134
From: [email protected] (UPI)
Newsgroups: clari.tw.science,clari.local.ohio,clari.news.gov.state
Subject: Zebra mussels spreading to inland lakes, researchers warn
Date: Tue, 21 Jul 92 8:56:04 PDT
 
	ROCHESTER, Mich. (UPI) -- Researchers say there is new and
troubling evidence that zebra mussels, the bane of the Great Lakes,
are slowly making their way into Michigan's inland waters. 

	Doug Hunter, a biology professor at Oakland University, said
the shelled invaders are in the Clinton River in southeast Michigan
and moving upstream. He said he has seen them one mile up the river
from Lake St. Clair. 

	In the western part of the state, the mussels have also made
some forays from Lake Michigan up the St. Joseph River, researchers said. 

	Since 1988, zebra mussels have formed a Great Lakes ``noose''
around the Lower Peninsula. Hunter said they're spreading inland by
hitching a ride on boats that motor up the rivers to marinas and boat
slips on Lake St. Clair and Lake Michigan. 

	Two programs are beginning this summer to study inland lakes
for mussels. The federal Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory
has recruited volunteer divers to monitor selected inland lakes
throughout Michigan and the Michigan Department of Natural Resources
plans to contract with research teams to begin its own monitoring
program. 

	Zebra mussels are a pest because they filter huge amounts of
microscopic organisms that support aquatic life and could destroy the
food chain; clog intake valves and pipes used by cities, industries
and farms, and can nest as larvae in boat motors, damaging them as
they grow. 

	Researchers believe the mussels arrived in the Great Lakes by
attaching thesmelves to freighters from Europe during the 1980s.

    <<< USDCDP::SYS$SYSDEVICE:[NOTES$LIBRARY]ENVIRONMENTAL_ISSUES.NOTE;1 >>>
             -< Current topics concerning the natural environment >-
================================================================================
Note 310.15                       Zebra Mussels                         15 of 15
NASZKO::THOMPSEN                                      6 lines  12-JAN-1994 12:02
                           -< ZEBRA MUSSEL lecture >-
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
The Merrimack River Watershed Council and the Nashua Regional Planning Commission
are co-sponsoring a lecture by George Vercelli on the impact of Zebra Mussels
on our water systems. This is a free lecture open to the public.

		Thursday Jan 27 7:30pm
		Merrimack (NH) Public Library

    Zebra Mussels are now in Lake Champlain, according to the VT Dept. of
    Environmental Conservation (DEC).
    
    If you visit Lake Champlain with your boat, please, *please* take the
    precautions listed elsewhere in this topic before moving your boat to
    another body of water, *especially* any body of water in the Merrimack
    River Wathershed.
    
    Thanks.
    
    John H-C