Authorities from the Lake Havasu has initiated a decontamination service to boat owners to help stop the transmission of the invasive quagga mussels. The said species have been causing trouble throughout West lakes and thus, immediate supportive interventions are warranted.
The decontamination station is located inside the Lake Havasu State Park and the clearing device is housed in a shipping container and flushes about 140 degrees of water via a boat's water intake network. The closed-loop system then recycles its water so that it will be put back in the circulation again. The boats should then be left to dry for about five days or one week so as to ensure that the boats will not spread the mussels to other lakes. The service is free of charge and similar models of the device are also in place at Lake Mead and Lake Powell, which are also infested by the invasive species. The station is being operated by the Arizona Game and Fish, as supported by a grant from the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. The military service also uses the same system to clean their tanks and other tools located at remote sites all over the globe.
The first recipient of the decontamination service is Bobby Watkins, a houseboat owner whose boat has been situated at the Pirate Cove for half a decade. Watkins stated that he has now realized the importance of ensuring that his boost is mussel-free before taking it back home to New Mexico. As his hometown has not been infested by the quagga mussels, he is sure that these species are not welcome there.
The quagga mussel (Dreissena bugensis) is a freshwater specie that is characterized by its coin-sized appearance and immense ability to filter water. The water filtering capacity of each mussel may reach by up to one liter per day. It takes out water from the phytoplankton and consequently leave the zooplankton species with limited food source thus, modifying the entire marine food chain and impairing the ecosystem. Aside from this effect, quagga mussels may also pose as a liability due to its engine-clogging and motorboat-ruining abilities.
The essentiality of cleaning boats and performing water draining interventions are so significant that authorities can never fully emphasize it to the public, said Kami Silverwood, an aquatic invasive species specialist from the Arizona Game and Fish. "Other western states are like, 'Hey, you have the mussels, you need to contain them,'" she closed.
Photo: Ken Lund | Flickr
