Currently browsing: Invasive Species

Ecologists have demonstrated that the genetic material that species shed into their environments can reveal not only the presence of the species but also a broad range of information about the genetics of whole populations — information that can help scientists trace the source of a new invasive population as well as prevent further invasion.

The Western Governors Association is urging Congress and the Trump Administration to “support and empower state-led rapid response programs” to manage the risks of aquatic invasive species, including zebra and quagga mussels, rather than creating a new response system.

The first watercraft inspection stations of 2019 will opened this month in Kalispell, Ravalli and Browning. Watercraft inspection stations are Montana’s first line of defense to prevent the movement of aquatic invasive species.

The state of Montana last year inspected a record numbers of watercraft and took a record number of water samples testing for aquatic invasive species in the state, finding no mussel larvae or adult mussels while sampling the water, according to information from Montana Fish Wildlife and Parks, which operates the state’s aquatic invasive species program.

Researchers from the United States and Japan have identified 84 species of marine algae and cyanobacteria that arrived on the Pacific Northwest coast via debris from the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami and, to date, none have gained a foothold in U.S. coastal waters.

With summer half over, more than 50,000 watercraft have been inspected at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks aquatic invasive species inspection stations around the state.

The Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife last week found invasive, non-native zebra mussels on a boat stopped for inspection at the Washington-Idaho border on Interstate 90 just east of Spokane.

The Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks Wibaux watercraft inspection station intercepted a boat carrying zebra mussels last week. The owner purchased the used boat and was transporting it to Alberta, Canada. The last launch of the boat was in Sturgeon Bay in Wisconsin.

What difference does it make whether an angler catches one big fish or two smaller fish, each half its weight?

Boating season is starting and people hauling both motorized and non-motorized boats must stop at watercraft inspection stations opening around Oregon next week.

In the first year that northwest states and the federal government shared the costs to intercept zebra and quagga mussels at the borders, inspection stations saw a 42 percent increase in inspections and a 49 percent increase in interceptions.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks aquatic invasive species inspection stations will close for the season on Oct. 15. Boaters that are still in need of an inspection can receive one at a regional FWP office.

With summer more than half over, more than 23,000 watercraft have been inspected at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks aquatic invasive species inspection stations around the state.

Over the long Memorial Day weekend, two mussel encrusted boats were intercepted at Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks watercraft inspection stations.

The U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has agreed to participate in cost sharing with Northwest states -- depending on the availability of federal funding-- to expand boat inspection stations to detect invasive, destructive species such as zebra or quagga mussels.

Montana Fish, Wildlife & Parks this week announced that it is recruiting additional aquatic invasive species inspection and laboratory technicians for the upcoming season. The job opportunities are part of the state’s on-going effort to battle the risk of spreading invasive mussels to other areas in the state.

Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks this week released a map indicating the streams in southwest Montana that have tested positive to date for the presence of Tetracapsuloides bryosalmonae (PKX).

The state of Montana completed testing of water from 182 separate water bodies in the state in just two weeks and found no new detections of invasive mussels, such as the quagga or zebra mussel larvae discovered in Montana waters in early November.

Idaho Fish and Game recently received reports of sick and dead whitefish on the South Fork of the Snake River, and biologists surveyed the river to gauge the extent of the kill, and which fish are involved.

The first step in what could be a major effort to improve water conditions in the Middle Snake River gets underway this week on a pair of small islands downstream from Walter’s Ferry.

Five years after a massive earthquake struck Japan and triggered a tsunami that is still washing debris onto the West Coast of the United States, scientists are unsure whether any of the 200-plus non-native species that hitchhiked over on that debris have gained a foothold in Northwest waters.

Quagga mussels once again were prevented from entering Oregon and, says the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife, “potentially causing millions in damage to our state’s water systems and ecosystems.”

After some sophisticated laboratory sleuthing, Montana Fish, Wildlife and Parks has concluded that two walleye that were caught from Swan Lake were introduced and not born in the lake.

Aquatic invasive species watercraft inspection stations open March 1 at the Ashland Port of Entry on northbound I-5 and March 3 at the Ontario rest area on northbound I-84. Watercraft inspection stations in Lakeview, Klamath Falls and Gold Beach open in mid-May.

Last week, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife boat inspectors in Ashland discovered invasive Zebra mussels on a boat being hauled from Texas to Auburn, Washington. Zebra mussels range in size from microscopic to two inches long and can survive up to 21 days out of water depending on temperature and humidity.

Fisheries managers in eastern Washington have been collecting growing evidence that invasive northern pike have established a presence in Lake Roosevelt, presenting a growing threat to salmon and steelhead reaches in the Columbia River system.

A team of scientists from Oregon State University and the Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife is studying an unusual fish captured alive in a crab pot near Port Orford this week called a striped knifejaw that is native to Japan, as well as China and Korea.

The north-central Oregon’s North Fork John Day Watershed Council’s intensive monitoring efforts on the Middle Fork of the John Day River last year resulted in the collection of an invasive species, previously undetected in eastern Oregon or the John Day River system.

The Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife announced May 19 that aquatic invasive species boat inspection stations had been opened in Ashland – the first sizeable town on Interstate 5 north of the California, at Gold Beach on the state’s south coast, at inland sites just north of the California border at Klamath Falls and Lakeview and at Ontario in east-central Oregon just west of the Idaho border in Interstate 84.

The first alligator snapping turtle found in the wild in Eastern Oregon was removed from Prineville Reservoir last week.

Globalization, with its ever increasing demand for cargo transport, has inadvertently opened the flood gates for a new, silent invasion. New research has mapped the most detailed forecast to date for importing potentially harmful invasive species with the ballast water of cargo ships.

State and federal agencies learned this week that the Sai-shou-maru – the 20-foot boat that washed ashore near Long Beach on March 22, 2013, with several non-native fish inside – came from Japan after it was swept out to sea by the tsunami on March 11, 2011.

A revamped and more aggressive approach to prevent aquatic invasive species from proliferating in Montana has quietly been taking shape in Helena, but it soon will get a higher profile in the Legislature.

Scientists from Oregon State University, who have examined more than three dozen pieces of debris from the 2011 Japanese tsunami that have washed ashore on the Northwest coast, say the potential damage from invasive species may not be known for years.

As the known presence of nonnative quagga and zebra spread west, most notably to the Southwest, and then started to creep north, officials in the Pacific Northwest got busy developing invasion prevention plans and actions, as well as strategies to attack the unwelcome little creatures if discovered in the region.

Recent monitoring samples from southern Utah’s Lake Powell have revealed evidence of microscopic quagga mussel larvae and the National Park Service has accelerated laboratory and field efforts to identify the source, Glen Canyon National Recreation Area Superintendent Todd Brindle said in a Nov. 1 press release.

A survey of teachers from the United States and Canada found that one out of four educators who used live animals as part of their science curriculum released the organisms into the wild after they were done using them in the classroom.

NOAA this week announced that $250,000 in grants has been made available through its marine debris program to five states impacted by debris from the March 2011 Japanese tsunami.

As scientists continue identifying the organisms attached to a floating dock from the 2011 Japanese tsunami that came ashore at Agate Beach just north of Newport, Ore., earlier this month they also are casting a wary eye to the future and what other potential invasive species may arrive.

Washington state and federal agencies said this week the 20-foot fiberglass boat that washed ashore at Cape Disappointment State Park on Friday, June 15 came from Japan after it was swept out to sea by the March 11, 2011, tsunami.

On Monday, June 4, ocean shore visitors reported seeing a loose dock floating offshore near Agate Beach one mile north of Newport, Ore.

The object has since washed ashore and is sitting at the high tide line.

During the first week of inspection operations, Oregon Department of Fish and Wildlife boat inspectors discovered invasive mussels on two boats: one in Central Point and one in La Grande.

The strong desire, and increased effort, to prevent an “invasion” of non-native quagga mussels, or their zebra mussel kin, into the Pacific Northwest’s waterways has shown benefits over the past weeks or two, and more, due to diligence.

The Idaho State Department of Agriculture announced that last week that mandatory watercraft inspection stations were opened in early February – the earliest ever – and immediately provided rewards in the effort to block invasive zebra and/or quagga mussels from entering the state.

The take home message last week was that communication and coordination has improved…, but still needs to get better if the Pacific Northwest region is going to ward off what are continuing threats from invasive species such as quagga and zebra mussels.

People hauling boats to and from Washington waterways this summer may be stopped by Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife enforcement officers conducting mandatory checks of boats, trailers and gear for aquatic invasive species.

An exotic quagga mussel adult was found on a sailboat hull during an inspection conducted at the Dayton Yacht harbor near Flathead Lake on Saturday, March 5.

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency is seeking public comment from boaters and other stakeholders to help develop proposed regulations, as required by the 2008 Clean Boating Act, to reduce water pollution and the spread of invasive species in the nation’s rivers, lakes and other water bodies.

Deep-water divers and genetic testing and laboratory analysis of water samples did not detect any evidence of the presence of exotic mussels in Flathead Lake.

Gabriela Chavarria, former director of the Natural Resources Defense Council's Science Center, has been named science adviser to the director of the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

An aggressive, invasive aquatic organism that is on the state's most dangerous species list has been discovered in both Winchester Bay and Coos Bay, and scientists say this "colonial tunicate" -- Didemnum vexillum -- has serious economic and environmental implications.

The U. S. Fish and Wildlife Service's Pacific and Mountain-Prairie regions, collaborating with other partners, have provided funding to enhance regional efforts to detect and prevent the spread of invasive mussels.

Beginning Jan. 1, operators of all registered boats (power and sail) and manually powered boats 10 feet or longer are required by a new law to purchase an Aquatic Invasive Species Permit to fund prevention and control programs.