Zebra Mussels

[dmdoss]

Do you think ZM are a good or bad thing for diver's? They make the viz better, but they mess up the bottom and wrecks.

[ScubaToys Larry]

I know up in milwaukee, it's creating more work for divers. They have to send them in to clean the intakes for the water supply they get from Lake Michigan.

[tc_rain]

I think they are bad. Sure they clean the water so you can see better but what are you going to look at but clumps of zebra mussels <?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

[dmdoss]

I know the local power plant has to use divers to clean the intakes here to. Seems like they would create a problem for dams.

[tc_rain]

Well on second thought, maybe they are good. They are creating jobs for the economy and diving jobs at that. <?:namespace prefix = o ns = "urn:schemas-microsoft-comfficeffice" />

[Dive-aholic]

Bad. They change the environment. It may not be such a big deal in manmade lakes, but it's becoming a big problem in the great lakes. The predatory status of many of the indigenous life is changing because of ZMs.

[TAH 73]

In our area (just off Lake Ontario) they have completely changed an ecosystem, a sportfishing industry has collapsed, due to the fish leaving due to increased water clarity. The increased water clarity has also allowed seaweed to grow in areas where it wasn't, and with a good portion of the bay being around 15/20ft huge areas of expensive waterfront are weed-choked.
<DIV>The seaweed grows up in the spring/early summer to the surface, later in the summer when the water level drops you end up with a large surface mat that dies, rots and smells, as well as trapping all types of surface debris.</DIV>
<DIV>Zebra mussels also have very sharp edges on their shellsthat are hell on wetsuits and gloves. </DIV>
<DIV>At my parents place we spent thousand of dollars having a channel dredged out to be able to get the boat slip/ dock area deep enough that the seaweed was at a depth that it wouldn't create a surface mat.</DIV>
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[Moxie]

Zebra mussels can tear through your trilam drysuit too! They are nasty. I used to see people taking their boats out of the great lakes and then heading north to cottage country with out scraping their boats. It's a nice way to transfer the pests into a closed system.
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<DIV>ZM were beginning to clog up intakes/outputs when I left Ontario and were destroying the balance. Gobey's too. Blech.</DIV>
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<DIV>They cover the wrecks so that the structure can't be seen and once they're on a wreck, you can't take em off. There are few uncolonized wrecks left. The last one I saw was the Niagara II.</DIV>

[DirtyWaterIL]

THE PROBLEM WITH ZEBRA MUSCLES IS NOW EVERY WRECK IN THE GREAT LAKES LOOKS LIKE THEYVE BEEN CANDY COATED IN SUNFLOWER SEEDS. lUCKILY i HAVENT CUT UP MY DRYSUIT ON THEM YET. i GUESS IT'S JUST MORE INCENTIVE TO MAINTAIN PROPER BUOYANCY CONTROL.

[DirtyWaterIL]

zebra muscles have also taken a toll on my capslock key, they have encrusted it forcing it to come on at bad times.