Province flexing its mussels

This summer, 26 boats were found that required decontamination and four of them required a full 30-day quarantine period.

by Nicholas Johansen

British Columbia’s waters have remained mussel-free this summer, due, in part, to a gang of anti-mussel superheroes patrolling the province’s roads and waterways.

B.C.’s enhanced invasive mussel defense program was launched in May 2015. The program puts six mobile decontamination units on key highways throughout B.C. that target boats coming from the United States and eastern Canada.

The $1.3 million in provincial and BC Hydro funding along with $360,000 from the Columbia Basin Trust that funds this program also put 12 auxiliary conservation officers on the roads to inspect boats and remove any invasive species found.

This summer, 26 boats were found that required decontamination and four of them required a full 30-day quarantine period.

These were the first decontamination and quarantine orders issued through the province’s Controlled Alien Species Regulation.

The provincial government’s anti-mussel sentiments may seem unfair to the seemingly innocent invasive quagga and zebra mussels, but the actions come with justification.

“They are more than just a threat to our ecosystems,” Steve Thompson, B.C.’s minister of forests, lands and natural resource operations, said. “They can be a threat to drinking water facilities, hydro stations, agricultural irrigation and more.”

These invasive mussel species first arrived in North America in the mid to late 1980s as a result of discharged ballast water from boats travelling from Europe.

“It’s been a progressive spread across North America,” said Matthias Herborg, aquatic invasive species specialist with the Ministry of Environment. “Lake Winnipeg unfortunately got infested in 2013 which again, put it a whole bunch closer to us.”

The Pacific Northwest is North America’s last bastion of hope in its stand against this European invasion.

“Our part of the Pacific Northwest, B.C., Alberta, Saskatchewan, and (Washington, Oregon, Montana, and Idaho), we are the last mussel free ones,” Herborg said.

And so far, the fight here at home has been successful.

“Last year we did 45 sample sites that are all clean,” said Herborg. “This year we’ve ramped up to 80 and so far everything has always come back negative.”

Originally published on Castanet.net