A daily compilation of significant news articles and comment
September 16, 2008
3. Watersheds –
Tide may be turning on beach pollution
Tiny aquatic pest hits North Coast
Troublesome mussels may have invaded Utah
Salt
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Tide may be turning on beach pollution
By Kristopher Hanson, Staff Writer
Trash, chemical residue and yard clippings surging down the
But in spite of the vigor in which regulatory agencies, industry and elected leaders have attacked the latter problems, a consensus on how to deal with the so-called "river problem" seems far from certain.
Solutions range from diverting the river, lowering or completely removing the rock breakwater protecting
But the tide may be turning.
Recent decisions by the City of Long Beach to fund a $100,000 breakwater study and newfound support from local Congressional leaders to fund breakwater research indicate that the city may be growing weary of its title as home to one of California's dirtiest beach fronts - an ignominious designation bestowed upon the community in annual Heal the Bay beach report cards.
Even the
The Long Beach Chapter of the Surfrider Foundation hopes to maintain this momentum, and is hosting a public forum on river and beach pollution at 6p.m. today at Smooth's Grille,
The forum will feature a presentation by marine scientist Marc Eriksen, who crafted a boat made of 15,000 plastic bottles, sailed it 52 miles down the
Friends of the
$10 donations to Surfrider's "Sink the Breakwater" campaign and FOLAR's river restoration efforts are being collected at the door.
Ryan Smolar, a
"We really need to get to a point where we start talking about solutions, rather than just in an abstract of `Is it a problem,' and `What can we do?'," Smolar said. "It makes sense to start to look at solutions now before we end up in a position where we're forced to do something quickly and without a real plan."
To learn more, visit www.
algalita.com, www.smoothssports
grille.com or www.folar.org.
Secretary visits port
U.S. Commerce Secretary Carlos Gutierrez stopped by the
Gutierrez, a champion of such agreements, said the
But critics of the program say it would only lead to outsourcing and lower work standards.
Gutierrez will return to
http://www.presstelegram.com/news/ci_10474037
Tiny aquatic pest hits North Coast
Written by Elizabeth Larson
Late last week, Mendocino County Agricultural Commissioner Dave Bengston reported that a biologist conducting a weed survey in the
The snails, which are known to hitchhike on boating equipment and even anglers' boots, have been in
Lake County Water Resource Deputy Director Pam Francis said the snails so far have not been found in
A full-grown adult mud snail, which is only about one-eighth of an inch long, can multiply into 40 million in a year; as many as 500,000 of them can fit into a single square yard, officials reported.
The California Department of Fish and Game reports that the snails have been found in numerous bodies of water around the state, from
They're also in the Yolo County portion of Putah Creek – where they were found in 2003 – the American River, the Lower Napa River and Alameda Creek, Rush Creek in Marin, San Lorenzo River in Santa Cruz and West Antioch Creek in Contra Costa County.
Outside of
The snails are believed to be kept in check in
Julie Horenstein, an invasive species coordinator with the Department of Fish and Game, said the snails are so tiny that, many times, their numbers have grown very large before they're noticed.
The snails are filter feeders, eating microscopic, one-celled organisms and tiny freshwater shrimp that also are food for fish, said Horenstein. They also reportedly eat algae.
“They're competing with the native animals that eat the bottom of the food chain,” she said.
The question, said Horenstein, is can the snails take enough food out of the food chain that native fish populations would be damaged?
Where the snails found in the
The snails tend to frequent creeks and rivers more than lakes, although their find in
The
Earlier this year, the Lake County Board of Supervisors adopted an ordinance to fight invasive species like quagga and zebra mussels. It calls for an inspection program to prevent non-native invasives, and Francis said the mud snails are a pest the ordinance is trying to prevent.
“We had our eye on this,” said Francis.
Keeping boats, fishing equipment, waders, water shoes and toys, and other items that come in contact with water clean, drained and dry is critical to stop the mud snail and the worrisome mussels. “That is the bottom line in preventing the spread of these critters,” said Francis.
Horenstein said to prevent the spread of invasive pests “good hygiene” in dealing with all water equipment is critical, and the Department of Fish and Game is working to get the word out about prevention and the necessity of cleaning boats.
She said people should treat every stream they go to as potentially invaded with exotic, damaging species. (For tips on cleaning equipment, see accompanying story, “Prevent spreading the
Horenstein said there are many more invasive pests beyond the mud snail and zebra and quagga mussels. There also is a disease called viral hemorrhagic septicemia, which causes fish to bleed internally. In addition there are aquatic weeds, which cost millions of dollars annually to address.#
http://lakeconews.com/content/view/5631/764/
Troublesome mussels may have invaded Utah
Salt
By Brett Prettyman, staff writer
Invasive mussels that have wreaked havoc on fisheries across the nation may have landed in
Wildlife officials recieved word from a Bureau of Reclamation lab in Colorado late last week that samples taken from Pelican Lake and Red Fleet Reservoir in the Uintah Basin and at Midview Reservoir on Ute Tribal Lands tested positive for the larval form of what could be zebra or quagga mussels.
Further testing on the larvae DNA will reveal which of the exotic and invasive trouble makers have migrated to
"It is possible that it won't bear out to be these critters. We use two methodologies to confirm an infestation because this is a big deal," said Larry Dalton, aquatic nuisance species coordinator for the Utah Division of Wildife Resources. "In the interim, we are taking the appropriate steps of trying to contain them."
Zebra and quagga mussels were brought to North America from Europe by ship and introduced in the
They are difficult and expensive to remove from boats and docks and nearly impossible to eradicate when in a lake or reservoir.
"We have shifted to a containment mode," said Roger Schneidervin, the Division of Wildlife Resource's regional fisheries director in Vernal. "We will be running boat spraying shifts from day break to to dark daily asking people if we can clean their boats as they leave Red Fleet and Pelican."
High pressure sprayers are used to clean the exterior of the boat and hot water is pumped through the live well and bilge system of boats as part of the process. Ute Tribe officials will be operating their own sprayer at Midview.
Forty-one biologists and technicians are monitoring boats launching across
"People don't tell us no once they understand the risk," he said.
In an effort to stop the possible spread to other Uintah Basinwaters, DWR officials were on hand this weekend during the annual Starvation Classic walleye fishing tournament at Starvation Reservoir. They asked all boaters, including those not fishing in the tournament, if they had recently had their vessel in either Pelican or Red Fleet. One boat was treated and allowed to enter the water.
"We have just added Pelican and Red Fleet to the list of waters we are already asking people about," Schneidervin said.
At every spray station, boaters are asked if they have been at
Lake Powell was the first Utah water to be identified as carrying the mussels a year ago, but further tests showed the first sample was a false-positive for the mussels, which is what DWR bioligists hope will happen with the samples from Pelican, Red Fleet and Midview (also known as Boreham).
A mussel scare also occurred at Flaming Gorge in June when a boat bought in
Schneidervin visited Pelican Lake Saturday looking for adult forms of the mussels.
"I looked under rocks and in vegetation, all the places you would expect to see them and I couldn't find anything even suspect by its shape that looked like a quagga or zebra mussel," he said. "That doesn't mean they aren't there. They are famous for population explosions."
He isn't too worried about the impact the mussels could have on a place like Pelican - which is small at less than a mile across and only 10-feet deep - because it is so productive. But if the mussels hit Flaming Gorge, they could easily wipe out the already delicate kokanee salmon population and impact the popular lake trout fishing.
"If Pelican is that hot [with mussels], it will be miraculous if other places in the northeastern region like Stravation, Steinaker and Flaming Gorge don't also show up as positive," Schneidervin said.
Strawberry Reservoir,
"These mussels rob the food right out of the mouth of the fish by eating the plankton,"
http://www.sltrib.com/healthscience/ci_10470714
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