This is my SOAP BOX on cleaning your darn boat!!

[Paul]

This started out as a great thread, this is definitely a hot topic with varied opinions and it needs to be discussed, but it's getting a little too personal with the attacks and the assumptions. Keep the conversation clean.

Thank you Jim, your a scholar and a gentleman, ( I think, LOL )

[slammer]

Was at an Ottertail county lake this last weekend. While waiting for the 2 boats in front of me to load, I noticed one boat liscensed from Iowa, another from Nebraska. As they prepped the boats for the road, neither one pulled plugs, drained water, etc. While I was prepping my boat, one guy came over and asked how fishing was. We talked a bit and I asked if he knew the rules for boats and let him know what is required. His response; rediculous, and jumped in his truck and left. Just another example of how hard this AIS will be to control. I comply with the rules but I dont agree with some of them.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

Thank you Jim, your a scholar and a gentleman, ( I think, LOL )

I said no more assumptions

[bturck]

Guys this might be a totally dumb arse question, but I've been noted for a few of those in my lifetime. Here goes: clams and mussels are available in edible varities. How about Zebra mussels, is there any food value to them or safe for human consumption? If so would someone not benefit from harvesting them, and possibly help in the infestation. If you just want to laugh at this question and not post I will understand. I re-read it and not sure I should hit Submit.......but here goes.

[Jim Panfish Uran]

haha!! Dude, there is nothing ever too stupid to ask.. I would think there would be some sort of food value in them, but they are so darn small. But that's just a guess!

[reinhard1]

i looked them up one time and if i remember right they are filter feeders so they can accumulate many polutants so i dont know if i would want to eat them. good luck.

[bturck]

Ok, at least nobody is laughing in my face.....YET.

[reinhard1]

i did actualy look it up one time and i think that is correct. hey, i thought the same thing about the rusty crayfish [if they are edible]. i think your question is a good one. i just dont think i would want to eat one after i seen they are filter feeders and "may" pick up a lot of polutants in the waters they are in. good luck.

[leech~~]

Guys this might be a totally dumb arse question, but I've been noted for a few of those in my lifetime. Here goes: clams and mussels are available in edible varities. How about Zebra mussels, is there any food value to them or safe for human consumption? If so would someone not benefit from harvesting them, and possibly help in the infestation. If you just want to laugh at this question and not post I will understand. I re-read it and not sure I should hit Submit.......but here goes.

You are thinking on the right track but as Jim said they are a little on the small side.

But we could eat up some Asian Carp or make some fertilizer or something out of them!

[Jim Panfish Uran]

I don't think being a filter feeder has anything to do with it... aren't all mussells filter feeders??

[RedDog3]

This was taken from wikipedia regarding eating zebra mussels:

"Zebra mussels are believed to be the source of deadly avian botulism poisoning that has killed tens of thousands of birds in the Great Lakes since the late 1990s.[24] Because they are so efficient at filtering water, they tend to accumulate pollutants and toxins. For this reason, although they are edible, most experts recommend against consuming zebra mussels."

[Feathers Rainin]

If you want to clean the water in a lake or river put some zebra mussels in it. They do quick work.

If you want to get rid of zebra mussels donate some money to ducks unlimited. Golden Eyes and Bluebills love em!

There were four DNR officers checking boats for water and invasives at a launch I was at last weekend. It was not that busy of a launch. I went to two other launches in the area the same day and no one was working those ones. Seems to me if they really think we can stop this they should be working a little smarter and spread out a bit.

On a side note I got a lecture about rain water in my boat...

[Akerman]

I'm not very informed about zebra mussels, I know they can be spread through bait water and such. Does anyone know if it is possible for waterfowl to carry the larvae in their feathers from lake to lake? This is from the DNR website "Female zebra mussels can produce 100,000- 500,000 eggs per year." Thats a whole lot of little baby mussels floating around! just wondering if it was feasible that they could ride in the ducks feathers when the ducks are hopping around?

Or after a little more thought, how about in the hair on furbearers like mink, otter, muskrat, beavers? They travel over land to get from one waterbody to another? Just thinking out loud.

[RK]

Hiya -

Reddog3 - According to a friend of mine who works for the US F&WS, avian botulism is believed to have killed @ 8,000 loons in the Great Lakes region last year - not to mention lots of ducks, cormorants, and gulls. Zebra mussels aren't the source for all avian botulism, but they're a factor. Blue green algea, which can carry the Type E botulism bacteria that kills birds and some fish, is fed on by zebra mussles, which get ingested by some birds like scaup, and when it dies it sinks and ends up in the substrate, where it's ingested by gobies, which DO get eaten by piscavorous birds like loons. On lake Erie, there has been a rise in phosphorous levels (which increase the intensity of algae blooms) concurrent with rises in zebra mussel and goby populations, but it isn't known if or how they're connected, or if it's a coincidence.

Feathers Rainin...it cleans up the water, temporarily, but as mentioned above, Lake Erie, which is an example lake for lots of reasons (long duration of infestation, relatively shallow so rapid pace ecosystem bioenergetics), has seen a dramatic increase in blue green algae blooms that make the lake anything BUT clean, and lead to Type E botulism, as described above. And, there has also been a sudden increase in Cladophora, a macro algae that grows on rocks and hard bottom in huge sheets that slough off in wind and waves and the wash up and rot on the beach.

And, it cleans up the water by replacing the entire bottom of the food chain with something basically nothing but sheepshead eat. There is nothing - nothing - positive about zebra mussels.

[Akerman]

Hey RK, what does your friend have to say about my question? Does anyone have any thoughts on how these things spread? I think it may be more than just by "dirty" boats. Never heard if the experts have explored the options that nature could spread it just as fast? I don't want any of it, just curious as to why it is spreading so fast?

[RK]

Hey Akerman -

My friend is a migratory waterfowl researcher, not an AIS guy, so doubt he'd know much. But I'll ask next time I talk to him.

I suppose there is some chance that critters can be a vector, but I think the overwhelming vector throughout the AIS spread has been humans. Ducks didn't carry Rusty Crayfish to Lake of the Woods or Leech. Zebra mussels got into Rose Lake because someone tossed a boat lift in the back of a truck.

What's more, it's the one vector we CAN control. I've heard the argument that we shouldn't bother trying to stop the spread of AIS because it's inevitable. I don't buy it. It's gotten to our doorsteps because at every step of the way, it was too inconvenient, too expensive, too something...

[Feathers Rainin]

One of my buddies shot a mallard last year that had its crop plump full of zebra mussels. I know Bluebills and Golden Eyes love em. Ducks gorge themselves when they find a good food source to the point that the food buldges up their throats and out their beak. I've shot ducks that had grains spilling out of their beak. I've dropped woodies on land and the impact caused acorns to shoot out. So yea ducks and other birds can and do spread invasives. Same as a bird could move milfoil that is attached it its legs or feathers. It only takes one milfoil with some seeds attached or one mussel with thousands of eggs to spread this stuff. It is good to attempt to stop the spread by humans but there are lots of ways it can spread naturally...animals, high water, etc.. If we are going to use the DNR in attempts to stop this we should make sure they are working smart, which has always been an issue with the Department of No Results...