Keeping invaders at bay
News
Posted By TINA PEPLINSKIE
Posted 1 month ago
group of students were busy at the Pembroke Marina Friday trying to raise awareness about aquatic invasive species.
Jessica Morris of the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters along with the Ontario Stewardship Rangers -crew leader Shandy Labine and students Scott Raddatz, Cole Merrill, Amy Cybulski and Valerie Matschke -set up shop near the boat launch so they could speak to boaters as they pulled their boats out of the Ottawa River. Their goal was to provide information about zebra mussels, which are now found in Muskrat Lake, and spiny water flea, which is found in different lakes throughout Renfrew County.
As the boats were pulled out of the water, the rangers checked to make sure there were no weeds attached to the boats in an attempt to ensure different aquatic invasive plants don't spread, Ms. Morris noted.
They also offered to wash the boats to ensure these species aren't being transferred between different lakes and rivers.
"We want to inform people about invasive species because a lot of people don't really know about them," Ms. Labine said. "We mostly want to get to the people who are going from lake to lake without washing their boats and spreading species."
This marked the third time the the OFAH and stewardship rangers have teamed up for this information session, always held the Friday of the Civic Holiday weekend, as it is a popular time to be on area waterways.
In Canada and the United States zebra mussels were first detected in 1988 in Lake St. Clair between Detroit, Michigan and Windsor, Ontario. It is believed they were inadvertently introduced into the lakes on the bottom of oceangoing ships traversing the St. Lawrence Seaway. Another possible way they were introduced is on anchors and chains of the ships, although it has never been proven.
They disrupt the ecosystems and damage harbours and waterways, ships and boats, and water treatment and power plants. Water treatment plants were initially hit hardest because the water intakes brought the microscopic free-swimming larvae directly into the facilities.
Zebra mussels get their name from a striped pattern which is commonly seen on their shells, though not all shells bear this pattern. They are usually about the size of a fingernail, but can grow to a maximum length of nearly two inches. The shape of the shell is also somewhat variable.
The life span of a zebra mussel is four to five years. A female zebra mussel begins to reproduce at two years of age and may produce between 30,000 and one million eggs per year. Spawning usually begins in late spring to early summer by free-swimming larvae which are microscopic in size, thus invisible to the naked human eye. Between two to five per cent of zebra mussels reach adulthood.
The spiny water flea preys on the zooplankton species and a member of the group of organisms known as crustaceans. Introduced to North America on Eurasian ships in 1982, the spiny water flea had spread throughout all the Great Lakes by 1987 and more than 60 inland lakes in Ontario since.
Spiny water flea, which are about one to 1 1/2 centimetres long, can consume about 20 zooplankton per day.
Tina Peplinskie is a Daily Observer reporter
