New Sightings in Wisconsin

From July 15, 1993 (update #17)

GREEN BAY- Diver Jim McMonagle reported the first confirmed sightings of zebra mussels near the Sister Islands, just offshore from Sister Bay, and near Pensaukee on the western shore of Green Bay.

MILWAUKEE - Zebra mussel veligers were found in large numbers (28,000 per cubic meter) in mid-May at the Wisconsin Electric Power Company (WEPCO) Valley Generating Station, according to Senior Results Technician John Babinec. Babinec said that compared with previous years, this was the earliest such large numbers of veligers have been found. In mid-June, veligers were first found at intakes for WEPCO power plants at Oak Creek and near Kenosha. Around the same time, recently settled mussels were found on substrate samplers at these same power plants and Port Washington, where veligers had not been previously detected this year. The substrate samplers had been in place for six weeks.

SUPERIOR - Twelve of 37 buoys retrieved from Superior-Duluth Harbor in November 1992 displayed zebra mussels, according to data provided by Lt. G.S. Hobbs of the U.S Coast Guard 9th District office in Cleveland, Ohio. This contrasts sharply with the previous year's survey of the same buoys, when no zebra mussels were reported. The mussel infestation of each buoy was reported as "light," with "spotted growth of mussels on surface of object." In most instances mussels were found on the anchor chain within four feet of the surface. The mussels were relatively large (1-2 cm).

LA CROSSE - No zebra mussel reports have been coming from the Mississippi River for the past few months due to the extraordinarily high water conditions. In early July, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources (WDNR) Fishery Biologist Ron Benjamin reported that "there is very little traffic on the river...zero recreational traffic, zero navigational traffic and no clamming going on. I doubt many people are looking for zebra mussels." Benjamin also questioned the effect the flood might have on zebra mussels. "Veligers might settle in a quiet backwater that once was a cornfield, and when it dries out they'll be gone," he said.

ID: 19930715-2.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.