Zebra mussels near our waters
Tiny larvae found in Red River in N.D.
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Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 13/07/2010 (5543 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.
They’re getting closer.
The dreaded zebra mussel is slowly moving towards Manitoba’s precious waterways — having moved 75 kilometres across Minnesota into North Dakota since September, they are now in the Red River watershed.
"This does increase the risk that zebra mussels will enter eventually into Manitoba’s waterways," Wendy Ralley, a water-quality specialist with Manitoba Water Stewardship, said.
Ralley said microscopic zebra mussel larvae have been found in the Red River at Wahpeton, N.D. — where the Red River is formed by the confluence of the Otter Trail and Bois de Sioux rivers.
Alerts were sounded in the fall when zebra mussel colonies were first detected in Minnesota at Pelican Lake, about 800 kilometres south of the Manitoba border.
Ralley said since Pelican Lake and the Red are connected by a series of waterways, it’s most likely the mussel larvae ended up in Wahpeton simply by drifting there and it’s more than likely they could travel the remaining 635 kilometres to Emerson the same way.
Zebra mussels are considered an harmful and invasive species that damage infrastructure and alter their environment. They are responsible for millions of dollars in damage every year, they are almost impossible to remove and their only predators are smallmouth and largemouth bass, which can’t eat them fast enough to stop their spread across North America.
Native to Europe, the zebra mussels arrived in the east coast of North America via ocean-going vessels in the 1980s and have spread right across the interior of the United States to California and the Great Lakes, in both Canada and the U.S.
The province has been bracing for their arrival since the early 1990s but Ralley said she can’t estimate how long it will be before the zebra mussels reach Manitoba, adding the province is stepping up its public education campaign with boaters.
The province has also established an invasive species hotline (1-877-867-2470).
Ralley said it’s believed our cold weather will restrict the zebra mussel invasion of Manitoba to our southern water. Female zebra mussels can only produce eggs in water 12 C or warmer.
aldo.santin@freepress.mb.ca