Incredibly destructive freshwater invasive species are pounding on BC’s door, but the federal government and energy utilities with everything to lose seem oddly unconcerned.
Zebra and Quagga mussels are the single biggest invasive threat to our freshwater ecosystems, hydroelectric facilities, irrigation systems, and municipal water infrastructure. These nasty mollusks clog pipes, jam water intakes, and wreak havoc on hydro equipment.
Once they are established, you can forget walking on the beach in your bare feet—their shells can be razor-sharp. Infestations may also lead to declines in lake trout, rainbow trout, and kokanee salmon. Invasive mussels retain water-borne toxins in their flesh, which exposes the waterfowl and fish that eat them to illnesses such as botulism. When mussels die in the millions, as they did on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, the stench from their decay renders beaches unusable.
The threat posed by invasive mussels is not hypothetical. We have had dozens of close calls in BC in the past few years, with mussel-infested boats crossing our border with the United States. Surveillance programs that monitor incoming watercraft and gear are the most effective means of preventing invasives from entering freshwater systems. With limited support, inspectors in BC still ordered 51 vessels to be decontaminated and 28 to be quarantined last summer alone.
The bad news for BC’s iconic fish species doesn’t end there. Myxobolus cerebralis, a parasite that causes whirling disease in trout and salmon, was recently detected in the headwaters of the Columbia River and several lakes just across the provincial boundary in Alberta.
Lakes in Kootenay National Park and Yoho National Park are closed to the public until at least March 31 after whirling disease was detected in the Kicking Horse River, Wapta Lake, Monarch Creek, and the confluence of the Emerald and Kicking Horse rivers.
States where this parasite is established have seen losses as high as 90 per cent in trout and salmon populations. The spread of whirling disease in BC is likely to be catastrophic to ecosystems, First Nations communities, and tourism.
Every entry point in BC should have 24-hour boat inspection facilities to stop these species from spreading north from the United States and west from Alberta. That does not seem to be in the cards. Instead, surveillance programs are being defunded.
Fisheries and Oceans Canada (DFO) has reduced its support for mussel surveillance from $475,000 in 2022 to zero in 2023. BC Hydro’s support for the program has dropped steadily since 2020, from $1.25 million to just $350,000. Support from FortisBC has dropped from $250,000 in 2020 to zero in 2023.
Contrast that with the provincial government’s own projection that the annual cost of protecting hydro facilities, irrigation systems, and municipal and domestic water systems will range as high as $129 million annually in the case of widespread infestation.
The combination of Zebra and Quagga mussels and the parasite Myxobolus cerebralis could devastate freshwater fisheries irreversibly.
Between whirling disease and invasive mussels, we could realize the collapse of any number of our fisheries. The lack of leadership from the Government of Canada on this issue is astounding. Defunding surveillance programs is not consistent with the Canada Water Act, Department of the Environment Act, the responsibilities of the Canada Water Agency, or Canada’s border security.
The Canada Border Security Agency has the authority and obligation to detain every single boat that comes across our borders. That is not reflected in reality.
Based on their actions to date, government and business leaders seem ready to throw the door open to catastrophe.
Jesse Zeman is the executive director of the B.C. Wildlife Federation.
Freshwater invasive species are pointing BC towards catastrophe
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11.01.2024
Incredibly destructive freshwater invasive species are pounding on BC’s door, but the federal government and energy utilities with everything to lose seem oddly unconcerned.
Zebra and Quagga mussels are the single biggest invasive threat to our freshwater ecosystems, hydroelectric facilities, irrigation systems, and municipal water infrastructure. These nasty mollusks clog pipes, jam water intakes, and wreak havoc on hydro equipment.
Once they are established, you can forget walking on the beach in your bare feet—their shells can be razor-sharp. Infestations may also lead to declines in lake trout, rainbow trout, and kokanee salmon. Invasive mussels retain water-borne toxins in their flesh, which exposes the waterfowl and fish that eat them to illnesses such as botulism. When mussels die in the millions, as they did on the shore of Lake Winnipeg, the stench from their decay renders beaches unusable.
The threat posed by invasive mussels is not........
© Georgia Straight
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