zebra mussels

[bmack]

Do any of you guys boat in lakes that are inhabitated by zebra mussels? What precations are you taking if any to minimize growth on the boat. We have in the last 3 years just begun to see these things multiply by the thousands. It is my understanding that these were brought in from the nothern lakes of the US and I thought you all may have some experience and thoughts.

[k9th]

I am on Lake Michigan and spent the previous 10 years on Lake Huron where zebra muscles are supposed to be located. I have never seen the first one and they have never been a problem with the boat.

[larryeddington]

Interesting topic, I am working on my f28 which I brought down from Cleveland (ERIE) and placed it on cribbing from about one year ago in Texas. Recently I pulled the props and low and behold there were two Zebra Mussels on the back of one of the prop hubs. I smashed them and of course they were dry, 1.5 year of no water did them in and that is good as I do not want to give them to our lakes. When registering the title to the boat Texas sent me back a quantity of literature on Zebra Mussels. I will be washing the bilge as well so no danger from my boat.

It is my undersanting Lake Erie was worst but the good side the filtered a lot of contaminents from the water and it is now a much cleaner lake but at a cost.

We have some worse stuff here in my mind called Giant Salvania, can completely cover a lake and kill it and there is not herbicide to kill it. Now it is located in Caddo lake between Louisiana and Texas.


Larry

[k9th]

Unfortunately, when ocean-going freighters enter the Great Lakes and pump their bilge water overboard, a lot of non-native species are introduced to the Great Lakes. The Zebra Muscle is just one. Another one is a little fish called a Gobie. They are actually quite cute when you see them but they are deadly to the fish of the Great Lakes. They eat the eggs off of the beds where the fish spawn and can wreak havoc on the fish population.

Another one is the Lamprey Eel. I have caught salmon with Lampreys still attached to their side, and many of them with Lamprey marks on their side where they were attached at one time.

While the water is clearer in the Great Lakes due to the Zebra Muscle, the price paid was not worth the benefit. Something needs to be done to stop the introduction of non-native species into these lakes.

The latest threat is the Asian Carp which can wipe out entire species of fish. They have found their DNA just a few miles from the lock in Chicago and the state of Michigan is attempting to get the Supreme Court to hear arguments to force the government to do something about the Asian Carp before it enters Lake Michigan. Once it does in large quantities, the commercial fishing and pleasure fishing industries will be changed forever.

[larryeddington]

Yep the asian carp is a bad boy. I guy named bracket at Bracket Outdoors conducts bow hunting expeditions for asian carp near chicago. I talked to him and asked if you could use shotguns which for me would be a lot more fun and elimanate a lot more of the Carp. When you go down the river in an aluminum boat the carp go nuts and jump in the air. Seems like would be better than skeet shooting using #8 shot which won't hurt anyone unless they are close. He said Bows only.

Down south you do not want to get giant salvania in your waters, as yet no way to get rid of it. It too is an invasive species from elsewhere.

Larry

[foofer b]

The red lion fish is the scorge down here and in the Caribbean.

[captainmaniac]

To go back to the original question : a good antifouling paint is the best protection, as well as frequent use of the boat (to wash them off the bottom). I have some unpainted plastic (trim tab cylinders) and stainless (swim platform brackets) and usually end up with a good collection of zebra mussels on them (maybe 100-200 in total), but anything with antifouling is usually pretty clean. They also get a good grip on exposed (unpainted) caulking. My shafts (unpainted) don't show any (speed at which they spin throw the buggers off I guess), but a boat that spends most of its time sitting may get pretty loaded. Any lines or fenders that sit in the water will be caked in critters.

You want to make sure you have a good dose of antifouling on your water intake grates as well - if they start adhering to the intake grids, then grow and/or multiply, they can cut off the water flow enough to cause you overheating problems.

Also if you trailer, you should rinse the boat once hauled out and before it goes back into another lake, so that you don't propagate the problem.

The first couple of years of infestation up here were really bad - when boats were hauled in the fall, many had literally thousands or tens of thousands of mussels on them. It's been gradually improving since then (the mussels are responsible for cleaning up the water a bit - I don't know if maybe they don't survive or thrive as well in the cleaner water?)

[jimbo36]

I agree with all that has been said here about the little zebra mussel. One additional point is that due to the clearer water we have experanced more weed growth, here in Lake Ontario. Seems the sun can now reach the bottom which helps with weed growth. We have also experienced new weed species as well. The weeds are choking many small craft harbours. Talk about a "Domino Effect"!! jimbo36

[larryeddington]

This mornings Dallas Morning News food section had an article that eastern seaboard chefs are trying to liminate the lion fish by eating them. Seems that their meat is very good. Oh yea they either cut or burn the spines off, I hope alive as they deserve it, should have stayed home along with the other invasive species.

At the end of the day anyone that hauls out and puts in different waters should do a good spray wash of their boat bottoms and submerged gear to help in anti pro liferation.

I know this does not tell you anything about the zebras but just an awarness statement as they are not the only bad things that are moving around where they do not belong.

Larry

[k9th]

Ditto on the clearer water adversely affecting weed growth. The marina I was in for 10 years on Lake Huron is almost unusable now due to excessive weed growth. What was once a bustling fishing marina with 60-70 boats now has about 15-18 boats and almost all of the charter captains have moved to other marinas due to the weeds.

It has affected the local economy in a very negative way.

[LandVF36]

In the Upper Mississipi, we have a huge problem with zebra muscles.
2 things work...
1) Good bottom paint and the type makes a huge difference. I've had most success with Interlux Micron CSC. I've tried several, an this is a hard type that suposedly "polishes" smooth from use.
2) Use your boat. We put a least a 1/2 dozen hours on every weekend from mid May to Mid Oct. When we pull for winter, the only place I have the critters is on the wood struts that hold the swim platform. Other boats from my same marina, that sit at the dock all summer, come out with cakes of them all over the place.

Also, the best way to clean them off is to let them freeze over winter. In teh spring, you can brush them off with a broom if you have a good bottom paint.

[mytrojan]

I use the Interlux ACT bottom paint every year. We too have zebra mussels in the finger lakes. Normal use of the boat and a powerwash in the fall is all it takes.

[Paul]

The western basin of Lake Erie is littered with wrecked schooners and steamships from the early 1900's. When I started diving on these in the 1980's, visibility was only a couple of feet but you could still see every feature on the wreck. Today visibility can be 20 feet on a good day due in part to the zebra mussels filtering the water but there are so many layers of them on the wrecks that you cant' see any features.

They dont' seem to want to stick to brass though.