When COVID-19 travel restrictions drop, mussel concerns pick up on Okanagan Lake

The mussels will become a recurring maintenance expense for in-lake infrastructure such as water lines, docks and bridges.

The Invasive Mussel Defence Program wants to bolster protections for Okanagan Lake ahead of what’s expected to be a busy tourist season.

“Since 2015, the (program) has prevented 137 infested watercraft from entering provincial waters by conducting more than 220,000 inspections. Many of the infested watercraft were headed to high-risk Okanagan waters. Still, gaps remain in prevention,” the Okanagan Basin Water Board wrote in a letter calling on B.C.’s minister of environment and climate change, George Heyman.

Last summer alone, inspectors caught 17 zebra and/or quagga mussel-fouled watercraft during times when the stations were open. Eight of those were headed to the Okanagan and concerns about what passes through when those stations are not open are top of mind for the water board.

“If we are B.C.’s No.1 destination for incoming mussel-infested watercraft, and we are encouraging tourism, we need to be better prepared,” Sue McKortoff, chair of the water board and mayor of the border town of Osoyoos, said in a press release.

“If invasive mussels arrived here, it’s not just people who drive boats who will be affected. It will affect everyone.”

The mussels could become a recurring maintenance expense for in-lake infrastructure such as water lines, docks, and bridges.

McKortoff said the mussels affect water quality and harm aquatic ecosystems. Plus, when the mussels were introduced to Lake Winnipeg, it took only two years for them to reproduce in such numbers that beaches became foul-smelling and un-walkable, she added.

“Can you imagine not taking your kids or grandkids to the beach in summer?” she said.