California tries to stop quagga mussels
Published: March 20, 2008 at 9:17 PM
LOS ANGELES, March 20 (UPI) -- Several California communities are banning recreational boats on inland waterways to keep out invasive quagga mussels.
The mussels foul drinking water supplies and harm local fish populations, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The Casitas Municipal Water District last week banned recreational boats from Lake Casitas, a popular bass fishing lake. Recreational boats were also banned from Westlake Lake in Ventura County and Lake Wolford in Escondido, Calif. The newspaper said Santa Barbara County was considering closing Lake Cachuma, at least temporarily.
The mussel, which is native to Russia and Ukraine, arrived in the United States in the 1980s in the ballast of ocean freighters. The invasive mussels hitchhike on boats and trailers and are virtually impossible to eradicate.
The mussels foul drinking water supplies and harm local fish populations, the Los Angeles Times reported Thursday.
The Casitas Municipal Water District last week banned recreational boats from Lake Casitas, a popular bass fishing lake. Recreational boats were also banned from Westlake Lake in Ventura County and Lake Wolford in Escondido, Calif. The newspaper said Santa Barbara County was considering closing Lake Cachuma, at least temporarily.
The mussel, which is native to Russia and Ukraine, arrived in the United States in the 1980s in the ballast of ocean freighters. The invasive mussels hitchhike on boats and trailers and are virtually impossible to eradicate.
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This material may not be reproduced, redistributed, or manipulated in any form.
In this image from NASA's Atmospheric Infrared Sounder instrument on NASA's Aqua spacecraft, Cyclone Nargis is pictured when it was a Category one hurricane located 370 miles west of Yangon, Myanmar on May 1, 2008. Tropical Cyclone Nargis flooded the region on May 4, 2008. The death toll from the cyclone and its aftermath is feared to hit or exceed 100,000 lives. (UPI Photo/NASA/MODIS Rapid Response Team)
NASA satellite images show Tropical Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar
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