how is the state going to contain the zebra muscles now?

With all the flooding lakes it seems that the zebra muscles have free range. LOL!

I had been thinking the same thing, but with all the flooding and folks suffering I didn't want to bring up something that small. Pardon the pun.

Just clean your livewells, everything will be fine

Zebra muscles like these?

The answer is, they wont be containing them....

The State was never going to "contain" zebra mussels....or muscles. :-)

All the current has probubaly washed a large number of the larva etc out to the gulf.

While it will surely spread some I wonder if it will decline some populations on lakes by washing the non attached adults out?

Haha. And wash your boats.

My opinion is that if not even 1 zebra mussel was ever moved by a water craft the state still would have not been able to control them. Mother Nature will see that the whole state is populated before she is done.

Johnny

Dang no auto correct!

Yep

I agree that they were never going to stop them.

They tried shutting down that creek sister grove..About wasted lavon doing it..

More signs should do it.

They need to stop wasting so much money trying to stop them. Mother Nature is the most powerful beast on Earth

The state is trying to stop moving the ZM's from a contaminated river basin to a non contaminated river basin.

With all the flooding. The oil tycoons will raise the price of oil. Now the insurance companies have to pay out so they will have to hike up the cost of insurance. To get back the money they had to payout. The government will raise taxes to rebuild roads, bridges, dams,and payoff whomever needs to be paid off. By the time it's all over the working man won't be able to afford to drive around fishing different lakes. Zebra muscle problem solved lol

They are going to spend more money on publicity, While on the other hand Mother Nature is actually the one in charge.

One the more stupid things the TPWD has done in my memory. It was a lost cause once they were found

You got 'em, keep 'em. We don't want 'em in South Texas. I support TP&W and ALL the good work they do.

Well the rains have them heading your way. We did our part now do yours.

Your flood water does not get into our rivers.

Why are so many people against trying to stop/slow the spread of zebra muscles? It's a very simple thing to drain and dry, and most intelligent people do that anyway. So someone please explain to me why it is so painful to do something you already do?`

They wont be containing them...

Hard to stop what you can't control, kinda like dealing with a women!!!! Probably why they call it Mother Nature. LoL

John you just reminded me of this LOL......... need to put some up that the zebra muscles can read too............

Nice insult. That and signs will probably work.

Go lobby on the wakeboard boat sites. We anglers already drain our livewells because like, we're intelligent.

Wasn't intended to be an insult, I'm simply saying that most boaters already and have forever drained and dried. I am just amazed why so many fishermen, since that's who's doing the complaining, have such heartburn doing what they are doing.

They are getting bad. I think they have been taking performance enhancing drugs too.

ChuChu what kind of boat do you have? I know in my bass boat it is a major under taking to dry the bilge area with a rag.

I have a Nitro, and it's a pain to crawl up on the back deck and use a sponge to dry it, but I do. Most of the time I only have about a cup or two of water in the bilge.

Not a problem. They killed all the grass in a lot of lakes with poison. Should work on the zebras too don't ya think.Who cares about those slimy fish.

And that cup or two of water is what is going to slow the spread when millions of gallons are being let lose daily? Not trying to be a pain, but the math doesn't seem to work. Most people at the end of the day take the plug out, the live wells drain, maybe they wipe down the sides, but certainly not the bottom of the boat, and they take it home and put it away. The bilge area likely dries before they take it out again next weekend. They put the plug in, launch and repeat. Im not an expert, but seems that behavior is much less likely to spread them than all the water level control measures.

Try this one more time....No, there is no way to stop the spread of zebra muscles in a river system that is already contaminated. BUT the spread to OTHER RIVER SYSTEMS can be stopped or slowed by drain and dry.

How many pleasure boats drain and dry? Half those people dont even know what a drain plug is...

The game warden will teach them.

Ok....

"Most boaters have forever drained & dried". I'm all about doing my part if the authorities are requiring certain steps regardless of how futile I may feel it is but to say I have "ALWAYS drained & dried" is ludicrous! What I have ALWAYS done is switch the live wells to drain and pull the bilge area plug(sometimes) and haul home. That's what I've ALWAYS done. :-)

If you look at the website for TP&W they mention spraying with a high pressure hose, soapy water at least 140 degrees water temp if you have been in an infested body of water and can't let it dry (they indicate, open all compartments, live wells, bilge area etc and dry letting the boat dry for at least a week). Lots of options for that regime. Car wash lobby?

It will as soon as you kill all of the waterfowl.
maybe a sign for the waterfowl to wash before landing on another body of water??

I drain mine and wait a week before going to a non-zebra mussel lake.

I'll return to the same lake over and over and over and over day after day if it has zebra mussels.

Whoever creates a bar of soap with zebra mussel killing agents in it will make a fortune. I'd gladly put one in my bilge. Of course that would only work if boat transference of larvae is the real way they get spread.

But just think how clean and clear I water will be it all the lakes. Lol. Tpwd have testing traps set all over lake fork right now

If you can't get your live well completely clear some one posted on here a while back to add a little bleach to it when you are done. That made sense to me. If you open the valves, turn on the pumps, and let the system purge a little when you first get to the lake it shouldn't effect the fish you put it there at all........my two cents

TPWD was at the 66 ramp on Ray Hubbard last night doing a zebra mussel survey. I hope I passed.

They're not going to control these things, there's no way.

If we would all just dry our bilge area with a rag we could.

It think you get them from a tractor seat or toilet seat, can't remember.......

It's TPWD job to try and do something about the spread to the waters in our state.
Chances are they would never admit that it will not work, but they have to appear to be doing something. If they didn't do a thing how would that look to the public? Everyone would be looking for a rope and a tall tree.
Do what they ask and just pray for the best!

Should I have been draining and drying my kayak all this time?

The only boats that would make any kind of impact would be a wake board boat with a huge balast bag.

The couple drops of water out of a livewell, if there were any actually in there would not be enough to start of a population.

now flooded rivers on the other hand lol...

I think at best they will only slow the infestation down but there is no way to stop it. I figure in 10 to 20 years there won't be a body of water in the lower 48 that won't be contaminated.........

Nature does what it will. We MAY be able to delay it slightly in our perception of time but only nature can ultimately deal with the issue.
I know the zebra muscles have adverse affects on some indigenous species but isn't that the way natural selection works?
I'm seeing complex issues around budget increases to battle the little invaders as well as revenue stream generation in fines. I think everyone knows it's only a delaying attempt until an effective control method can be developed.
Reminds me of global warming where the Britts have established an entire industry around trading "carbon emission credits" but on a smaller scale.
Think about it.
How can we profit from this?

From a biology stand point there is no such thing as "invasive species" there are only those that thrive and those that don't.

We can slow down , and try to fight the inevitable but not stop it. Species on this planet have been fighting for dominance for thousands of years, we can't control it. If you are gonna get zebra's stock some goby;s...

seems to work for the great lakes?? They were polluted cesspools until the zebras came along, now they are bass factories..

tpwd fell prey to the hand wringing and panty waists by "doing something" i would be willing to bet that there was a financial reason behind some of the regulations that had little/nothing to do with the z-mussel.

if livingston was mussel free before, they certainly aren't any more. is there any chance the baseless and asinine dry boat regs will be removed once the mussel is endemic?

First...weren't we at one time, going to stop, slow the spread of, or contain....fire ants?

Nothing TP&WD has done will stop, slow the spread of, or contain, zebra mussels. It does however, do those things to anybody that would impinge upon the kingdom they have built here in Texas. A lot of the rules and regulations overseen by TPWD are more about control than about actual resource protection.

Now don't get me wrong, TPWD does a very good job with what they got to work with, for the most part. There are some things they just need to not be involved in other than as an advisory capacity.

Like the fire ant, zebra mussels will ultimately be contained by environmental parameters, its too hot in a large part of the state for them to spread or become much of a presence beyond where they are now. Things like this flood will help spread them into areas suitable for them, but just because they temporarily invade an area does not mean they will become a dominant species there. These facts should not give any governmental agency control over our lives, whether that be at work, home or play.

That very question (slightly different context) was asked of a TPWD representative in a meeting of the Texas Aquaculture Association last February in Fredericksburg. Believe you me, if you think fishermen have a lot of rules, try being a fish farmer...Quoted best as I can from memory....

Question asked by a long time Texas fish producer, "Once the inevitable spread of the zebra mussel has occurred, as has been the case with the tilapia, as with tilapia, will these odiferous regulations continue to be in effect beyond that point in time?"

Answer given by high ranking TP&WD official, "Yes."