Study Indicts Bait Buckets, Live Wells

From July 28, 1992 (update #14)

ANN ARBOR, Mich. - Zebra mussel veligers have been detected in water samples taken from bait buckets and live wells of trailered boats removed from Lake St. Clair, according to Ladd Johnson of Williams College, who is studying potential dispersal mechanisms of zebra mussels in the Great Lakes. Many boaters advisories warn that larval mussels can be transported in water held in bait buckets, live wells and bilges; Johnson's study is attempting to confirm whether such concern is warranted. He will further evaluate similar concerns regarding the potential transfer of mussels by waterfowl, as well as determine the viability of mussels transported by such vectors. Johnson can be reached at the NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory, 2205 Commonwealth Blvd., Ann Arbor, MI 48105, phone (313) 668-2571.

ID: 19920728-7.

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.