By Alex McCuaig

Movement by watercraft

Small mussels can cause huge problems if invasive species not kept in check

Jun 23, 2020 | 4:40 PM

MEDICINE HAT, AB – Zebra and quagga mussels can be the size of a pinhead but if they have a chance to get established the problems they can cause to Alberta waterways are giant.

That’s what has happened across North American waterways over the past four decades after the invasive mussels from Ukraine were introduced into Eastern Canada and the U.S. and have worked their way west.

And like many other invasive species, human travel is their primary mode of transportation with watercraft the main vector of movement for zebra and quagga mussels.

“If they get introduced into Alberta irrigation infrastructure, the costs for maintenance will be really astronomical,” said Margo Redelback, Alberta Irrigation Districts Association’s executive director. “They reproduce very rapidly, they are unchecked in this environment because they are non-native and they have no predators or other organisms which can keep them in check.”

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The costs start at $70 million annually just to control the problem if populations establish themselves in the province with irrigation canals, gates and pipelines getting jammed with the problem mussels not to mention the loss of recreational use of water bodies.

It’s one of the reasons Alberta began to aggressively tackle prevention of the mussels spread in 2013 – first with an inspection program and then adding a specialized K-9 unit to the task.

“We piloted using them to see if dogs would work out at our inspection stations in 2015,” said Cindy Sawchuck, K-9 lead with Alberta Environment and Parks. “These dogs were great ambassadors and they bring so much to the program and they are also incredibly accurate and efficient at detecting these mussels.”

While human inspectors still do much of the work, the size of the mussels can be difficult to detect even to a trained eye.

“We’re seeing invasive mussels attached to boats but they are tiny,” said Sawchuck. “They are often the size of a grain of rice cut up into several pieces and then that what’s hidden in the boat.”

Both Redelback and Sawchuck stress boaters live by the motto, “clean, drain, dry,” when they bring their craft out of the water and ensure they stop at inspection stations like the one outside of Dunmore as they are required to do so.

This also includes canoes and kayaks in addition to motor or sailboats.

Since 2013, 101 watercraft have been identified in Alberta carrying invasive mussels.