Dec 15, 2003
Ballast Water Battles
It is likely how the zebra mussel, a fingernail-sized mollusk from the Black, Caspian and Azov seas entered the Great Lakes in the late 1980s. Since their introduction, zebra mussels have spread rapidly to all of the Great Lakes and to waterways in many states, as well as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Growing in dense clumps, the mussels can encrust and foul facilities at power plants, fish ladders and industrial sites. To date, natural resource managers have been powerless to stop the mussels' spread.
