If zebra or quagga mussels make their way into the Okanagan’s Lakes it would be “absolutely devastating,” says Osoyoos Mayor Stu Wells.
The Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB), which Wells chairs, is launching a campaign to raise public awareness of this menace, which Wells believes is the biggest potential threat to local lakes seen in decades.
“We still have milfoil, but do we want another milfoil?” Wells asks, acknowledging that mussels could be even more devastating.
These invasive species have already taken over many lakes in eastern North America, especially the Great Lakes, where they clog pipes and water intakes, attach themselves to docks, boats and anchors, kill off other species, contaminate the water and cause algae to spread. Their sharp shells also cut people’s feet, making it necessary to wear shoes when swimming.
“It would play absolute havoc with the tourist industry,” said Wells.
The OBWB plans to meet with municipal councils in the area and to hold public meetings in its efforts to raise awareness of the problem.
A public meeting is tentatively scheduled for Thursday, April 4 in Osoyoos, but details are still being firmed up, said Corinne Jackson, OBWB communications director.
The special guest at the public meetings will be Heather Larratt, of Larratt Aquatic, who is an expert on water quality and reservoir management.
In a recent presentation to the OBWB, Larratt said the potential impact of a mussel invasion to Okanagan water systems, municipal infrastructure, boating, fisheries, lake-front real estate values and tourism could exceed $43 million per year in lost revenues and added maintenance.
The cost to the Great Lakes region of mussel management between 2000 and 2010 is estimated at $5 billion, Larratt told the OBWB.
The mussels, which are native to the Black Sea and Caspian Sea area, were first discovered in the Great Lakes in 1982.
They have since spread to the southwestern United States.
The OBWB has been in touch with U.S. authorities and recently received permission to use the slogan “Don’t Move a Mussel.”
Other slogans being considered include calls to action such as “Clean, Drain, Dry,” “Spread the word – not mussels,” and “Keep B.C. zebra mussel-free.”
The mussels are typically spread by boats. In their early stages of development they are too small to be seen. Adult zebra mussels can survive out of water for several days in the right conditions.
The best policy is for anyone who has had a boat or other water-related item such as a jet boat, life jacket, or hip waders in an infected area is to consider themselves infected, Larratt told the board.
Wells is particularly concerned about boats used for wakeboarding that take water into a bladder.
After the bladder is emptied, some water may remain in the bladder with gelatinous infant zebra or quagga mussels, which then can spread to other lakes, Wells said.
The OBWB requested that a local official with the Canada Border Services Agency (CBSA) come to its March 5 board meeting to discuss how the agency could help to prevent mussel-infected boats from entering B.C.
The official declined to attend, citing federal cutbacks for public outreach and instead sent the board a five-month-old PowerPoint presentation.
Until federal legislation is enacted on the specific issue of zebra and quagga mussels, customs information can be provided to officials in other departments when necessary to protect the life, health or safety of an individual or the environment.
Wells said he was surprised CBSA could not send the official to the meeting, especially since she is based in Penticton, where the board’s meeting was held.