Cottage owners combat zebra mussels

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This article was published 05/08/2017 (3086 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

As zebra mussels begin to clog Lake Winnipeg and other provincial waterways, cottage owners at a Westman lake are taking a proactive approach to stopping the invasive species from ruining their summer playground.

Cottage owners at Sandy Lake have spent their own cash to install signage with the phone numbers of people willing to answer questions and inspect watercraft.

The Municipality of Harrison Park followed up by passing a resolution in June to support all efforts to prevent invasive species, through education, signage and voluntary inspections. Council decided to put up signs at all municipal lakes and waterways, according to councillor Doreen Stapleton.

And on Thursday night, the municipality hosted an educational forum on the dangers of zebra mussels at Sandy Lake Community Hall, featuring a presentation from Candace Parks, the aquatic invasive species specialist for Manitoba Sustainable Development. Stapleton said 150 people attended.

The purpose of the meeting was to find out what governments and private residents can do, she said.

“We believe education will be our best defence from having them spread further west.”

Known for choking out other life, zebra mussels are no longer than an inch in length, but seem much bigger because they grow in clusters, latching onto solid objects like rocks and boats. A female zebra mussel can produce upwards of a million eggs a year.

Stapleton is worried this species would ruin lakes many hold dear.

“It’s terrible,” she said. “It destroys every aspect of a tourism lake or the waterways that we have here.”

Cottage owner Victor Kowall — who listed his phone number on the Sandy Lake signage — believes the province, which has invested in watercraft inspection stations in eastern Manitoba, is making a mistake ignoring the west.

“Zebra mussels do exist and the government better wake up to that idea, and realize that people from the eastern half of (Manitoba) sure do travel out to the west.”

Riding Mountain National Park, a federal entity, began mandatory watercraft inspections at Clear Lake in 2015.

Plans for signage at Sandy Lake were hatched in May after cottage owners heard about a single zebra mussel the province found at Singuish Lake in Duck Mountain Provincial Park.

Should zebra mussels settle in Sandy Lake, Kowall believes the lake is finished as a tourism hub. He described fish dying from not having enough to eat and zebra mussels interfering with boat motors.

“In a few years’ time, the lake will be done, there will be no fishing,” he said. “Who would want to camp here?”

Zebra mussels cannot be removed once they enter a water body, according to Parks.

She explained mitigation efforts to prevent the spread of invasive species are not complicated. Any watercraft or equipment must be cleaned, drained and dried off before and after entering new water. Boaters should remove any plants and debris from their rides and drain all water from the hull.

“It’s a behavioural change,” she said. “People need to jump on board.”

Each lake reacts differently to the presence of zebra mussels, so it’s difficult to know what will become of infected water bodies such as Lake Winnipeg, Grand Beach and parts of the Red River, she said.

“Many people still ask me how do we get rid of them, but we don’t. Once they get established, they’re here to stay.”

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