Great Lakes Carriers Report Few Problems

From February 19, 1992 (update #12)

Most Great Lakes shipping fleet operators reported finding mussels on Great Lakes vessels, but few reported major problems, according to an article in the October-December issue of Seaway Review. American Steamship Company Vice President of Engineering Gavin Sproul reported that "every vessel operating in the Lower Lakes is experiencing mussels... We find we change filters more often but have experienced no operating problems." ULS Corporation has instituted a policy of sending all their vessels to saltwater at least once per season because those trading exclusively in fresh water have experienced mussel infestations. The CANADIAN CENTURY, for example, spent all season in fresh water before going to Quebec City, where saltwater killed mussels attached to the ship's cooling system, plugging coolers and shutting down the ship for two days. Canada Steamship lines experienced a similar problem on one vessel and has established a policy of periodically increasing temperatures in seabays aboard those vessels that do not regularly enter saltwater.

ID: 19920219-10.

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.