"Shortwave Sportfishing" wrote in message
...
On Tue, 13 Dec 2005 23:22:02 -0500, Wayne.B
wrote:

On Wed, 14 Dec 2005 03:16:39 GMT, "Doug Kanter"
wrote:

.is all this stuff worse than the zebra
mussels delivered here by some Russian tanker?

====================================

Zebra mussels are given credit in some circles for having cleaned up
Lake Ontario.

They are also proving to be a food source for fish species like
smallmouth and crappie. I know when I was up in the St. Lawrence a
couple of years ago, the water was as clear as it could get, you could
easily sight fish for pike and smallmouth and some of the walleye were
spectacular.

Just based on anecdotal evidence, it would seem that these aren't the
threat everyone seems to think they are..

Sure they are. Power and water plants have to clean them out of their
intake water pipes so they are not clogged.

Also:
============================
" Besides clogging pipes and devouring most of the available microscopic
food supply, zebra mussels may present a health hazard by increasing human
and wildlife exposure to organic pollutants such as PCBs and PAHs. Studies
have shown that zebra mussels can accumulate the pollutants in their tissues
in concentrations 300,000 times greater than in the environment. They
deposit these pollutants as pseudofeces, loose pellets of mucous mixed with
particulate matter that they filter from the water. Scavenging animals
that eat the pseudofeces may pass these pollutants up the food chain. When
the zebra mussels coat bathing beaches, the sharp-edged mussels cut the
tender feet of swimmers. "

http://octopus.gma.org/surfing/human/zebra.html
============================================

Have you ever stepped on a rock filled with these critters when you were
swimming and barefoot? I have, as have all of my family members at one time
or another. They cut up your feet pretty bad and if left untreated can lead
to infection.