Potential Effects on Lake Fisheries

From August 8, 1990 (update #3)

Those concerned about the potential effect of zebra mussels on fish populations may be interested in "Population Dynamics of Percids in Lake IJssel and Some Smaller Lakes in the Netherlands," a research article published in 1977 in the "Percid International Symposium" issue of the Journal of the Fisheries Research Board of Canada (vol. 34, pp. 1710-1719). The article discusses the growth rates of pikeperch and Eurasian perch - European relatives of North America's walleye and yellow perch - in a Dutch lake that has been infested with zebra mussels since the 1930s. Recent articles have reported zebra mussel densities up to 10,000 animals per square yard in the same lake. Nonetheless, Lake IJssel has supported a commercial fishery for pikeperch for many years, and fast growth rates have been reported for Eurasian perch as well as the ruffe, a fish also introduced recently to the Great Lakes via ship ballast water.

ID: 19900808-7.

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.