Passport to Texas

This is Passport to Texas

Zebra mussels, originally native to SE Russia, were first detected in the Great Lakes in 1988. It’s thought they arrived in the ballast water of ocean going ships that crossed the St. Lawrence Seaway. In 2009, they showed up in Lake Texoma.

17—They’re just getting to Texas now, but they’ve caused millions and millions and millions of dollars of damage to water industries, the ability to move water from rivers to reservoirs, or from reservoirs through municipal water supplies. They’ve created just a lot of problems throughout the country.

Dave Terre, Chief of research and management at Texas Parks and Wildlife, says zebra mussels are an ecological and economic threat. They clog municipal water lines and harm aquatic life.

17— The water in lake Texoma contains a form of the zebra mussel called veligers—they’re actually small larvae that you cannot see. So, the only way to keep the larvae from moving to other water bodies across the state (through the contamination by boats) is by draining the water out of your boat.

Draining and drying your boats before leaving Lake Texoma isn’t just a good idea—it’s the law.

10— What’s required is that people pull the plugs in their boats, drain all the water out, and make sure any device in the boat that contains water is drained before leaving Lake Texoma.

Find additional details on the TPW website.

The Wildlife and Sportfish Restoration program supports our series and funds conservation projects in Texas.

For Texas Parks and Wildlife…I’m Cecilia Nasti.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, June 26th, 2012 at 12:00 am and is filed under Boating. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.