{"id":8520,"date":"2021-04-15T14:41:21","date_gmt":"2021-04-15T18:41:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=8520"},"modified":"2021-04-15T14:43:34","modified_gmt":"2021-04-15T18:43:34","slug":"episode-311-invasive-species-zebra-and-quagga-mussels-and-others-april-192021","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/?p=8520","title":{"rendered":"EPISODE 311: INVASIVE SPECIES….ZEBRA AND QUAGGA MUSSELS AND OTHERS APRIL 19,,2021"},"content":{"rendered":"
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EPISODE  311   INVASIVE SPECIES\u2026SNAKEHEADS , ZEBRA AND  QUAGGA MUSSELS (and others)<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n
April 2021<\/div>\n

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THE PERFECT STORM (since 1960)<\/div>\n

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THE term \u2018perfect storm\u2019 was first used in 1998 \u2026defined as a \u2018disasrous situation created  by a powerful concurrence of factors\u2019\/<\/div>\n
To my mind the \u2018perfect storm\u2019 on the Great Lakes occurred forty years earlier when fishermen, scientists, ecologists, citizens became <\/div>\n
alarmed at  the disastrous situation in the Great Lakes.  Taking action they discovered the perfect storm on the Great Lakes<\/div>\n
had no  simple cause.  The year was1960.  Commercial fishermen  could not longer make an income rising because here were<\/div>\n
not enough fish in the huge expense of the Great Lakes.  Why?  What factor had  caused so many fish natural to GreatLake <\/div>\n
waters to just disappear.  <\/div>\n

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No single villain.  If one factor has to be chosen it would be the opening of two canals\u2026The Erie Canal and<\/div>\n
the expanding of the Welland Canal.   To a degree the changes in the St. Lawrence canal  system  is also<\/div>\n
responsible since by 1960 that system was being used by larger and large ocean ships which had  foul ballast <\/div>\n
tanks which were emptied  into the Great Lakes.   65% of invasive species got here that way\u2026and more will<\/div>\n
come in the future.  Both Zebra and Quagga mussels here in those tanks likely.  Some ecologists suggest banning ocean vessels from the Great Lakes as a solution.<\/div>\n
That is unlikely to happen.<\/div>\n

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180 INVASIVE SPECIES<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n
I WAS startled to discover there are over 180 invasive species in the Great Lakes by the last count.  Mercifully most of these creatures<\/div>\n
and plants are no problem.  Small populations that do not survive long.  That is small comfort because the big populations of invasive<\/div>\n
species are capable of upsetting the delicate balance of life in the Great Lakes as was explained in earlier Episodes dealing with the<\/div>\n
Seal Lamprey and the Alewife.   In 1965 Robert Tanner countered the invasions of the Alewife which had multiplied into the millions by<\/div>\n
introducing two other \u2018invasive species\u2019, namely the Coho and Chinook Salmon whose voracious appetites seems to have brought the<\/div>\n
alewife under  control.  So much so that sport fisherman are concerned that the alewife decline is affecting the coho and chinook populations<\/div>\n
and, as a direct result, the economic profits of the $80 million sport fishery.<\/div>\n

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Here are some of the other invasive species that are now thriving or possibly about to thrive in Great Lakes Waters.<\/div>\n

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1) ZEBRA  AND    2) QUAGGA MUSSELS<\/div>\n

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Three actions have seriously affected the Great Lakes since the stocking of  Pacific Salmon to control the alewife problem. <\/div>\n
First, believe it or not, the Clean Water Act of 1970 reduced the number of nutrients flowing into the Great Lakes.<\/div>\n
‘Damned if you do and damned if you don\u2019t\u2019..Water was cleaner but less food for the food chain.     Then, sometime in the<\/div>\n
1980\u2019s some Zebra mussels were dumped from ship bilge tanks somewhere in the Great Lakes.   They loved  their new <\/div>\n
home and multiplied by the hundreds of thousands.  And then an even worse accidental arrival of Quagga mussels<\/div>\n
occurred in the 1890\u2019s.  Both mussels loved their new home even if they did not like each other much.  The Quagga mussels<\/div>\n
appear to have become dominant.<\/div>\n

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Why are the Zebra and Quagga mussels a problem.  They clean the Great Lakes water.  Suck in nutrient laden water.  Pick the<\/div>\n
plankton.  Eject nice clean  water.  That does not sound so bad until you think about it.  Cleawater has no food floating around.<\/div>\n
The bottom of the food chain begins to starve which means ultimately that the whole food chain starves.<\/div>\n

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\"Zebra<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n

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One mussel can filter up to a liter of water per day. People living near Lake Ontario back in the late 1960\u2019s say that they could see down into the water about 6 inches. In July of 2011 the 158 year old shipwreck of \u201cQueen of the Lakes\u201d was found near Sodus Point, New York. An article about the find states \u201cThe water clarity was good allowing about 75 feet of visibility\u2026\u201d From 6 inches of visibility to 75 feet! Nice for Wreck Diving (if you can see through the mussels) but it can mean starvation for fish.<\/p>\n

So nice clean  clear water is proof that the Great Lakes are in deep trouble.<\/div>\n

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Another way to find out that might hurt is to take a stroll in the water.  But watch out.  The sharp edges of the Quagga mussel will slice your feet<\/div>\n
like they are slabs of bologna.<\/div>\n

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The mussel invasion was brought to my attention when an amateur photographer with a waterproof camera reported his findings as he sat<\/div>\n
on a pier \u2026 perhaps the pier at Port Credit.   When he looked at his film he saw densely packed  mussels in seemingly infinite numbers\u2026just <\/div>\n
below his feet.   All the mussels  busy cleaning the water of zooplankton and other nutrients.   The result?  A dead world.<\/div>\n

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Is there a solution.  Is there something that will eat the mussels?   Turns out there is.  The means  another invasive species \u2026the Goby<\/div>\n
like mussel meat and seems able to break open the casing.   But has the goby also become a problem?  The Goby is here already.<\/div>\n

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 The invasive round goby may benefit Lake Erie as it eats invasive zebra and quagga mussels. However, the goby\u2019s long-term effects within the food chain are unknown.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\"zebra<\/a><\/p>\n

Maryland Department of Natural Resources via Flickr<\/a><\/div>\n

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Sharp edged Zebra  and Quagga shells make strolling along<\/div>\n
a sandy beach  in bare feet impossible.   Wadiing even worse.<\/div>\n

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3)  The sea Lamprey<\/p>\n


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Populations are under control using poisons in their breeding rivers\u2026called \u2018lampricides\u2019.  As a result the<\/div>\n
sea lampreys population has dropped 90% from its worst years.  But he sea lampreys are still present.<\/div>\n

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4) Northern Snakehead<\/div>\n

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Sometimes called the Frankensten fish since it kills and eat other fish, amphibians and even small mammals with its<\/div>\n
mouthful of spine like teath.   Even more frightening is the fact that the Snakehead can live out of water for up to <\/div>\n
a week.  Snakeheads have been sighted but are not at the scourge stage yet.<\/div>\n

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5) Spiny Water Flea<\/div>\n

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Almost invisible to the human eye, the Spiny Water Flea has a long tail with spikes on it. the tail is 70% of the <\/div>\n
spiny water fleas body.   As a result it is hard for juvenile native fish to eat them.  Juvenile fish depend one<\/div>\n
plankton to survive in the water column of life.   Since inedible they are free to multiply.<\/div>\n
The bottom picture shows a grouping of spiny water fleas with their spiny tails .<\/div>\n

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6) Killer Shrimp<\/div>\n

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This shrimp kills anything trying to prey upon it. WARMING water temperature of the<\/div>\n
Great Lakes makes the likelihood of the killer shrimp becoming established and <\/div>\n
reducing the food supply of juvenile fish and thereby affecting the ecology of the lakes.<\/div>\n

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7)  Asian CARP<\/div>\n

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Asian  Carp can eat 20% to 120% of their body weight in plankton every single day of their life.  Dense populations<\/div>\n
in the upper Mississippi river systems threaten to enter the Great Lakes at the base of Lake Michigan.  Pictures<\/div>\n
of Asian Carp jumping 8to 10 feet in the air are common.  They can even injure boaters and fishermen but their<\/div>\n
threat to plankton is the most serious.<\/div>\n

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POST SCRIPT<\/div>\n
 There is much more than can be said about each of these creatures.<\/div>\n

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alan skeoch<\/div>\n

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<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

EPISODE  311   INVASIVE SPECIES\u2026SNAKEHEADS , ZEBRA AND  QUAGGA MUSSELS (and others) alan skeoch April 2021 THE PERFECT STORM (since 1960) THE term \u2018perfect storm\u2019 was first used in 1998 \u2026defined as a \u2018disasrous situation created  by a powerful concurrence of factors\u2019\/ To my mind the \u2018perfect storm\u2019 on the Great Lakes occurred forty years […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8520","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=8520"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/8520\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=8520"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=8520"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/alanskeoch.ca\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=8520"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}