What to do about the zebra mussels in Millbrook?

[SDAnderson]

Once you have zebra mussels, you have them. Contemplating poisoning and banning diving/boating/fishing is silly pseudo-science hubris. They spread by a number of vectors and can not be controlled on more than a very local basis, poison them to your hearts content and they will return. Get used to them.

There are about a billion articles detailing how calamitous zebra mussels are. There is also a strong corrolary between the age of the article and the distance from any actual zebra mussels and how panic stricken the article is. The closer the author is to a place where there actually are zebra mussels or the more recent the article, the less the author tends to sound like Chicken Little. Try and find something scientific written within the past couple of years in a high-impact zone - there isn't much because it ain't nearly as big of a deal as we were told to expect.

We've had them here in the Chicago area for more than a dozen years. Here's a laymans perspective:

• They're a fu**ing mess on the bottom and on the wrecks. In some places a few years ago they would be layered on top of each other six inches thick. The population seems to be crashing the past couple of years, but the little buggers are sharper than a knife and need to be avoided.
• The visibility is ten times better. Literally.
• Seaweed, loooong gone from the southern basin of Lake Michigan, is staging such a comeback that they're having to mow or poison the stuff in the harbors. That's what happens when sunlight can penetrate more than the top 5 feet of water.
• Algae, for many years only a planktonic bloom, is being re-established in a filamentous form on the bottom in water nearly 100 feet deep. Good cover and food for everything.
• Fish populations were hurt but seem to be recovering. Burbot, bass and round gobies are thriving, whitefish and salmon seem to be holding their own and perch and smelt, which took a very hard hit, are at least showing signs of not tanking any further. We still had a mass die-off of alewives last year, though - ugh! By the way, of the seven species I just listed, how many are native? My guess is that the water used to be so murky that it was it's own cover, once cleaned up there wasn't anyplace for fry to hide. Now that the seaweed and algae are starting to return, the problem seems to be correcting itself.
• Boaters have problems with clogged intakes and hull encrustations. Honestly, though, have you ever known a boater that wasn't constantly crying about something? They're like farmers, it's either not raining enough or raining too much or it might not rain enough or it might rain too much and if a wind should come up... God bless them, but scrubbing hulls just isn't that big of a deal.
• They're actually removing more than just dirt from the water - they concentrate some nasty toxins and have made the water cleaner in fact as well as appearance.

The only constant is change, this change has a bigger impact than most. You can try to fight it, but you'll lose. Oh, well. Frankly, ask almost anybody who uses the lake what the biggest problem is the past couple of years and they'll tell you it's the water levels. The mussels are way down on the list of "issues" anymore.

 

[archman]

Maybe we should put some research into "triploid zebra mussels", just like grass carp. You could seed them over dull boring areas nobody uses or dives, and they'll stay put without breeding. You'd have to periodically re-seed to account for natural mortality of course.

Oh yeah and we'd have to kill all the normal zebra mussels still in the water AND keep them from recurring. Now THAT'S applied ecology!

 

[NAIBdiver1]

A friend gave me a short article from last Sunday's Washington Post:

The VA Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries will spend about $365,000 pumping about 144 tons of potassium Chloride into Millbrook quarry to choke zebra muscles.

Anyone know if this has been done, or when it will be done. Sure seems like it will not only kill the muscles, but everything else - fish, plants, turtles.

Will the quarry be diveable after this ?

Comments ?

NAIBDiver1

 

[Don Burke]

A friend gave me a short article from last Sunday's Washington Post:

The VA Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries will spend about $365,000 pumping about 144 tons of potassium Chloride into Millbrook quarry to choke zebra muscles.

Anyone know if this has been done, or when it will be done. Sure seems like it will not only kill the muscles, but everything else - fish, plants, turtles.

Will the quarry be diveable after this ?

Comments ?

NAIBDiver1

Here is something from Virginia DGIF:

http://www.dgif.virginia.gov/zebramussels/index.asp

I have downloaded the PDF at the bottom of the page and have just begun wading through it.

 

[NAIBdiver1]

Very informative link - thanks for posting

NAIBDiver1

 

[DA Aquamaster]

Hmm...they seem to have identified the potential for divers to unintentionally transport larvae but have ignored the potential of aerial transport by birds. Given that Zebra mussels have been known to exist in the quarry for the last three and a half years, it seems pretty likely the problem has already spread to other waters in the area. If not, introduction of zebra mussels into other waters in the area by birds flying in from other infected waters is still almost certainly going to happen.

Not to sound too "special interest" here (and I am not affected personally as I will most likely never dive there), but I suspect all that is being accomplished is that officals are creating the appearance of doing something about the "problem" to appease power companies, municipalities, etc. when in fact all they are going to achieve is spending $350,000 to screw the visibility in the quarry for the next 30 years. It's pretty obvious they are not going to be any more effective than any other state in stopping the spread of Zebra Mussels, so long before the 30-35 year effects of the treatment dissipate, Zebra Mussels will be common in every other body of water in the area.

 

[tedwhiteva]

A friend gave me a short article from last Sunday's Washington Post:

The VA Dept. of Game and Inland Fisheries will spend about $365,000 pumping about 144 tons of potassium Chloride into Millbrook quarry to choke zebra muscles.

Anyone know if this has been done, or when it will be done. Sure seems like it will not only kill the muscles, but everything else - fish, plants, turtles.

Will the quarry be diveable after this ?

Comments ?

NAIBDiver1

Can you say "salt water"

 

[Don Burke]

Hmm...they seem to have identified the potential for divers to unintentionally transport larvae but have ignored the potential of aerial transport by birds.

Given the distance from the quarry to major waters, the potential may not be be all that great. I doubt there are birds who make long flights from infested waters to that quarry, so a diver would be a logical suspect.

Given that Zebra mussels have been known to exist in the quarry for the last three and a half years, it seems pretty likely the problem has already spread to other waters in the area.

I will agree it is likely. It is certainly not a sure thing.

If not, introduction of zebra mussels into other waters in the area by birds flying in from other infected waters is still almost certainly going to happen.

I would eliminate the word "almost" from that statement. The question is "when", not "if".

Not to sound too "special interest" here (and I am not affected personally as I will most likely never dive there), but I suspect all that is being accomplished is that officals are creating the appearance of doing something about the "problem" to appease power companies, municipalities, etc. when in fact all they are going to achieve is spending $350,000 to screw the visibility in the quarry for the next 30 years.

I suspect "return the screwed up visiblity" would be more accurate.
They will back up the Zebra Mussels a few years. Since there is no reported infestation in the area, perhaps the conditions are not all that suitable in the surrounding area. In any case, a few years may be enough.

It's pretty obvious they are not going to be any more effective than any other state in stopping the spread of Zebra Mussels, so long before the 30-35 year effects of the treatment dissipate, Zebra Mussels will be common in every other body of water in the area.

I doubt anyone in the know expects the Zebra Mussels to be stopped.

I suspect a few years of delay for less than half a million might be a bargain.

 

[PWCPD Diver]

Actually Broad Run boarders the Quarry. So the chance that there could be an infestation after a flood or what not could be a concern. Broad Run empties into the Occoquan River which feeds into the Potomac River etc...etc...

But given the fact that we already have Snakehead in the Potomac maybe the Zebra Mussels could be a benefit! We could see the Snakehead and kill `em easier! LOL