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Tahoe mussel inspection gets agency enforcement; inspections become mandatory

Posted by: Aqua Blog Maven on June 2, 2008 at 6:03 am

From the Reno Gazette-Journal:

Boaters launching into Lake Tahoe will face mandatory inspections of their vessels beginning today as land-use regulators pursue an urgent program to prevent invasive mussels from becoming established in the lake.

The Tahoe Regional Planning Agency on Wednesday approved new regulations prohibiting introduction of invasive aquatic species and requiring that boats and other watercraft launched into the lake be subject to inspections. Violators could face penalties of $5,000 or more.

Voluntary inspections started at public boat launches around the lake in mid-May, but the action approved Wednesday gives the effort some teeth, officials said.

The program aims to prevent the introduction of quagga or zebra mussels into Tahoe’s waters, a possibility experts said could come with devastating results. “We have to become a little more adamant that this is a serious problem,” said Shelly Aldean, Carson City appointee to TRPA’s governing board.

Quagga mussels, previously found only in the Midwest and Northeast, were first discovered in Southern Nevada’s Lake Mead in early 2007 and have spread to other parts of Nevada, Arizona and Southern California. In January, zebra mussels turned up in a California reservoir only 250 miles from Lake Tahoe.

Closely related, both types of mussels could cause widespread problems were they to make Lake Tahoe their home. The rapidly reproducing mollusks could quickly disrupt the lake’s ecosystem, clog drinking water intakes, encrust boats, foul docks and litter now-pristine beaches with sharp and stinking shells.

Read more from the Reno Gazette-Journal by clicking here.

June 2, 2008 · Filed Under Invasive Species

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