When you hear hoof beats, think of horses, not zebras. Thus do pundits advise people to consider the obvious rather than leap to an exotic explanation.
But this is one case where thinking of zebras is exactly the right thing to do. Zebra mussels, that is, along with their similarly troublesome relatives, quagga mussels.
The Prairies and British Columbia are mercifully free of these small mollusks. Mussels native to the region do not attach to surfaces as these interlopers do. And when they do, they can block municipal water treatment plants, clog pumps, obstruct pipelines and destroy complete ecosystems. They can destroy irrigation systems, eliminate fish populations and adversely affect habitat. There’s nothing good about them, and there are no effective control measures.
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We don’t want zebra and quagga mussels to infest western Canadian waters. They’ve caused an estimated $5 billion in damage in a 10-year span to users of the Great Lakes and billions more where they’ve invaded the eastern seaboard of the United States. That is just a beginning.
The mussels have made their way across the U.S. into Utah in recent years and appear to be spreading northward.
How? By travelling with people.
Native to Eurasia, they came to North America on transoceanic ships entering the Great Lakes. From there, they travelled waterways as adults and as young, known as veligers.
They also travelled on boats and trailers: in ballast, in bait, on anchors and even on wading boots.
Zebra and quagga mussels are small, though not as easy to miss as the millions of juveniles the size of a grain of sand, or their larvae, which are microscopic.
Summer, with its many water-related recreational opportunities, is the ideal time to bring attention to aquatic invaders. Those who take boats or any water-related equipment to infested waters must be careful about potential mollusk hitchhikers. The mussels can live outside water for up to 30 days, so checking and cleaning all equipment is crucial to keeping them out of the West.
Idaho and Montana are making concerted efforts to inspect watercraft and inform the public about the problem. Alberta’s environment department and its irrigation sector launched a program to do the same at key border crossings.
That means vehicles may be stopped and inspected at several high-traffic border points considered at higher risk for inadvertent zebra and quagga mussel spread. And although nobody likes to be delayed while on vacation, the goal of prevention is important.
Left unchecked, these mussels are certain to invade B.C. and prairie waters. They begin by laying up to one million eggs per year. With no natural predators and few native ones, they proliferate and attach themselves to virtually any available surface.
As filter feeders, the mussels eventually extract all nutrients from the water, destroying the food chain for native species of fish and other aquatic dwellers. In the resulting pristine water, weeds proliferate as sunshine easily penetrates lower depths.
When the mussels die, their sharp shells litter shores and beaches, making them dangerous to use for recreation. And they stink. Meanwhile, their live relatives continue to propagate.
The map documenting spread of these mussel interlopers seems to indicate eventual invasion into Western Canada is inevitable.
That doesn’t have to be the case if everyone pays attention and heeds advice to clean, drain and dry equipment that has been in potentially infested waters.
The mussels’ entry can be delayed, at the very least.
If the worst happens and we do start seeing zebras, researchers may have had enough time to develop solutions.
