That's why postulation is so great. It lets you make stuff up.

Even though the flood gates are not open they have been continuously releasing water from all these lakes all along. How the hell else do they keep the water flowing in the creeks? Drive across the dam and just look down. You won't see a raging torrent but you will see water flow. Zebra mussels are gonna get where they gonna get regardless until they come up with a way to make them sterile or kill em all.
Draining boats and all that other [censored] ain't doing squat.

Clear water and hydrilla... Sounds good to me!

If they can survive the water of the trinity and Livingston, good for them lol

how do they make them sterile? snip snip??

Yes, but the authorities can't fine water controlling agencies for spreading zebra mussels via spillway releases of millions of gallons of water. They can, however, raise money by fining...YOU. The 1/32 inch of water still in your livewell when you get off the water is killing our lakes.

I have asked Scott Walker with Texasinvasives.org. When he replies, I will post to this thread.

Exactly what I was thinking.

I was curious on what the take was fromTexas Parks and Wildlife on it. Obviously, we or they or anyone has any control over the release of water with all the flooding.

My question was referred to TP&W. Waiting on reply.

Postulate on the postulations and add some statistics and you get a theory!

So much for the dry bilge regs. I keep some terry towels in the boat just for that purpose. Throw them down in the bilge to keep a state employee from finding something to make his/her ticket quota for the month. Worse yet we have to keep our receipts from where we buy bait.

Nonsense!

Exactly! They are in Grand Lake, Ok now. Makes some great clear water sight fishing though!

They would probubaly do well, the Great Lakes had some pollution issues before the zebras cleaned them up.

It will definitely be interesting to see what happens in he next decade as they will surely be all over by then.

Guess we need to start socking gobbies to help out control them.

But we also have a large number of natural predators down south here that apparently would eat them also so their numbers might very well say in check semi naturally without the need for more chemicals in our waters.

They have not been able to slow them down since they were first found in the Great Lakes . Just a matter of time before they are all over the U.S.

Here ya go. The dry boat effort is to help prevent the spread to unaffected areas,

Hi, Bill.

These are interesting questions and complaints, and some of them are logical and understandable. I passed this on to Monica McGarrity, the Aquatic Invasive Species Biologist at TPWD who�s involved in basically all the zebra mussel monitoring and outreach. Here is her response:

Hi Hans,
This is an interesting question and I agree that it is something to consider in outreach�our awareness campaign mainly focuses on impacts to boats/ecosystems/economy to inspire action. Here�s my answer in bullet points you can relay to this individual or summarize in your response:
� Unfortunately, downstream dispersal of zebra mussels from infested lakes is inevitable if suitable habitats/conditions are available downstream. This is why it is so important for boaters to drain water to prevent infesting other river basins and other new areas.
� Release of water downstream from Texas lakes is necessary�both to provide water for wildlife and humans and to prevent flooding.
� Water transfer to other lakes requires an approved invasive species management plan � when the source lake is infested with zebra mussels, the plan will involve water treatment to prevent new infestations.
� Unlike water releases/downstream flow, boaters pose a greater risk in that they can(and will, if they don�t clean, drain, dry) facilitate OVERLAND spread to new basinsand upstream sites, potentially infesting an entire drainage system!
� The regulations requiring water draining enable TPWD to require that water be drained to prevent the spread of zebra mussels to new areas. Our TPWD Law Enforcement officers are working to make boaters aware of these rules and the risks and potential prevent new infestations and protect our natural resources. Our goal isn�t to fine boaters�in fact, to date, wardens have issued only warnings (i.e., no fine) to boaters found to have not drained their boats, instead choosing to inform the boaters and allow them to drain the water. However, these regulations have been in place statewide since July 2014 and boaters should be aware of and following these rules by now. Violation of these rules is a Class C misdemeanor and carries up to a $500 fine.

I would emphasize Monica�s points about the threat of the ZM in any response in these forums: once a stream or lake in a watershed is infested by ZM, it will almost certainly infest downstream. Once it�s there, it�s unlikely they can be eliminated. Just about the ONLY way that new watersheds will be infested, short of transfer by wet waterfowl, is by boats. And it only takes ONE male and ONE female, or only a little bit of water with larvae in it to infest a waterway, In other words, it doesn�t take much! In a nutshell, ZM spread easily and can�t be gotten rid of once in place.

And if the boaters don�t clean, drain and dry, THEY WILL EVENTUALLY TRANSFER ZM TO A NEW LOCATION. It�s inevitable!

One scary note: ZM DNA was recently detected in Lake LBJ.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Hans Landel, Ph.D.
Interim Invasive Species Coordinator
Lady Bird Johnson Wildflower Center
University of Texas at Austin
4801 La Crosse Avenue
Austin, TX 78739-1702