Okanagan water board braces for potential invasion

September 12, 2013

Penticton Western News – September 12, 2013

An unexpected parental leave was partly to blame for a near-miss in the Shuswap that could have caused the depletion of fish species the likes of which agencies are working hard to prevent here in the Okanagan.

The threat at Shuswap Lake in July 2012 appeared in the form of thumbnail-size quagga mussels attached to a boat arriving from the U.S. Quagga and zebra mussels multiply quickly and spread easily as stowaways in, and on, boats.

After arriving from Europe in the 1980s, the invaders colonized the Great Lakes, where they caused billions of dollars in damage, and now inhabit lakes as far west
as California.

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