I'm so glad Pete, didn't live to see this!

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When you read this 2012 report on the 100th Meridian you see how the quagga got out of control in the first place. Fact is the government did not place it as a high priority..... we knew this and is why people --- like PETE ---- were so active in trying to get them to take it seriously. The only real help received came from the State of Utah - who really did not have the responsibility for Lake Powell, but wanted to keep the rest of the lakes in the State clean.

http://www.100thmeridian.org/Columbia/CRB June 2012 Meeting June DRAFT MINUTES.pdf

There has been some Federal funding to study different eradication methods and so far outside of treating small bodies of water, nothing has been found to treat the Great Lakes - which were infested lone before Lake Mead - or the large western lakes of Powell and Mead. The trouble, now, with Mead is attempting to treat it is useless unless a way was found to first eradicate them from Lake Powell.. the same with Lake Mead or Havasu - both significantly smaller lakes, but downstream from Powell and Mead.. There is the matter of the rivers - from Powell through the Grand Canyon and from Mead to Mohave, Mohave to Havasu and all the way to Mexico, as well as California now infested and the lakes fed from Havasu all the way to Tucson here in AZ. If the government had taken this seriously in the first place Mead never would have been infested - but that horse sailed.

As for the comment Fisheye made about it hurting fishing at Lake Powell - in fact since the quagga established here the fishing on Lake Havasu has never been better, but as Wayne points out - we are a unique lake, stable water level and a very aggressive fish habitat program on this lake. They still do not know what the end result of this is going to be on Lake Powell fishing... and in light of evidence Blue Gill seem to like to feed on quagga are taking a cautious stance on whether to introduce Sunfish - which are growing to record size here on Havasu since the quagga moved in. However, there is not enough Sunfish or Blue Gill to stay ahead of how fast the quagga are proliferating in our warm water lakes. Much faster than the Great Lakes.

As far as studies go -- yes they have them - California or one which desperately wants to keep them out of Lake Tahoe [which has had a very agressive program to check each and every boat before they are allowed to launch at Lake Tahoe - I watched them go over a boat there a few years ago and it was impressive, the person didn't just ask questions, they had a check list and climbed in each boat and checked everything from stem to stern before allowing to launch]......

http://resources.ca.gov/quagga/

http://research.noaa.gov/News/NewsA...Mussels-Eat-Away-at-Great-Lakes-Food-Web.aspx

https://www.michigan.gov/documents/deq/wrd-ais-dreissenids_499881_7.pdf

http://seagrant.oregonstate.edu/sit...ive-species/toolkit/zebra-quagga-_mussels.pdf

http://www.grants-gov.com/grants_gov_display.php?program=F17AS00160

http://www.pewtrusts.org/en/researc...tes-seek-federal-crackdown-on-mussel-invaders

and much more - this is not being ignored...... I would love for Wayne or someone to get our new, very proactive, Secretary of Interior to make a visit to Lake Powell and see this in person.... he is a Westerner and an outdoorsman... the ideal person to get interested in this subject.
 
Waterbaby said:
Doing a little online research, it appears it is the copper-based antifouling paint that is the problem in freshwater lakes. There are other options, now for antifouling paints that are considered non-toxic.
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That's great if I can use an anti-fouling bottom paint on Serentiy. I wouldn't be using a copper based anti-fouling on our aluminum hull anyway, due to galvanic corrosion.
 
capt.catfish said:
That's great if I can use an anti-fouling bottom paint on Serentiy. I wouldn't be using a copper based anti-fouling on our aluminum hull anyway, due to galvanic corrosion.
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IIRC one of the articles I read said zinc-based for aluminum. I did not find anything that specifically said bottom-painting with anti-fouling pain is illegal on Lake Powell... before spending the money would run it past NPS.... The articles did say the boats with this didn't have them on the hulls, but they were all over the props, etc, anything not coated gathered quagga.

We all knew it was a matter of time when the gates were not manned at night and people were free to enter at will.. we watched people at Stateline move cones aside at night to launch and I posted about it at the time that it was a huge hole in any kind of prevention.
 
RE Anti-fouling paint, most fiberglass boats that are in the water year-round MUST have their bottom painted to help reduce osmosis of water into the fiberglass hull (I would have said ALL fiberglass boats, but I have been told that Formula does not recommend their boats have bottom paint applied - I personally don't believe this but it's what I've heard). Besides requiring a different paint that adheres to aluminum hulls, the process of application would be very similar for a houseboat, and I can't imagine it would not be allowed.

There is a long history of copper being the BEST anti-fouling additive, but unfortunately it worked so well the government outlawed the best forms of it back in the 1980's (OK, there were some environmental reasons also).

I can tell you that on my painted hull, in the water for the past two years, there were no mussels present a couple of weeks ago. I wish I could say the same for the props and running gear (metal).

Summary - for aluminum houseboats to avoid heavy mussel issues accumulating, anti-fouling paint is a good option, or alternatively, having the boat hauled regularly and power washed. I don't know how the economics of the two choices compare as bottom painting itself is not inexpensive. Further, this still does not address the bigger issues of mussels in the engine intakes and genset intakes.
 
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