The mussels were found right at the shoreline. And so if they were smashed to the bottom of the lake, they’re not going to be able to do any of that,” Tibbs said. They require food to be taken from the water. “We defined an area, and the decision was made to put tarps all over the bottom of the lake here to smother out the sea mussels. They were found by a lone pair of eyes who saw the mussels in the water, and that is how this whole experiment started. They fell off a barge that Tibbs said was put in the water despite showing obvious signs of having zebra mussels attached.īiologists in Waco knew the threat of zebra mussels, which is why weeks before they were discovered in Lake Waco, Parks and Wildlife actually trained city staff on how to spot them. The mussels were found in Lake Waco in 2014. Biologists say they didn’t have much of a chance to succeed when they first started the project, but they went ahead with it anyway. Ironically, smothering is exactly the strategy that got rid of zebra mussels in Lake Waco. “The fact is that they can smother things and anything that’s in the water.” – Mukhtar Farooqi, TPWDįisheries biologist pulls buoy out of water revealing zebra mussels. The infestation choked water pipes, dropping production by over 50%. The mussels clogged a water intake pipe belonging to Canyon Lake Water Service Company in 2019. That is a huge problem for places like Canyon Lake, where the lake is the community’s water source. They just basically destroy infrastructure,” said John Tibbs with the Texas Parks and Wildlife. Once that boater enters a new body of water, the zebra mussels enter the water and begin reproducing.Īccording to the Texas Parks and Wildlife, 28 texas lakes are considered infested with zebra mussels. The mussels attach themselves to boats and hang on to those not adequately cleaned, drained, and dried. Fisheries biologists say once zebra mussels are in a body of water, they spread rapidly, and boats are to blame. In 2017, zebra mussels were first found in Canyon Lake by the Texas Parks and Wildlife.
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