When larval zebra mussels were found in Lake George in 1995, a comprehensive management and rapid response plan was put in place. Representatives from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute worked with citizen stakeholders and local officials to convene a response team, which was called into action following the discovery of adult mussels in 1999. After determining the extent of the infestation, the team decided that manual removal by SCUBA divers would be the timeliest and most cost-effective control method. For 7 years, volunteer-led dive teams manually pulled mussels from the lake. Since the removal efforts concluded in 2007, there has been no successful recruitment of zebra mussels at the site where they were originally discovered. The success of management actions at this site was due in no small part to the rapid response protocols previously put in place. For more on the Lake George management project, check out our webinar – Case Studies in Manual Removal of Invasive Species.

Zebra mussels arrived in Minnesota from Lake Superior in 1989 and have since spread to over 150 of the state’s water bodies. Though the complete eradication of invasive mussels from Minnesota’s waters is highly unlikely, state agencies and universities have remained committed to performing research to improve mussel management. The University of Minnesota’s Aquatic Invasive Species Research Center (MAISRC) is currently searching for ways to make control methods more effective and sharing the results of their work with resource managers. Example research includes completing a draft genome sequence of the zebra mussel to isolate genetic weaknesses that can be targeted for control and characterization of the microbial community associated with zebra mussels to identify pathogens that may be used for biocontrol. The MAIRSC is working to incorporate this type of research into toolkits that resource managers can use to inform their adaptive management plans. For information see the MAISRC website.