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Originally Posted by Valeria101 [H]ow could they re-establish a species that depends on a man-made electric barrier to survive? |
The mussels have to be protected or its a given they will die. No question. The non-indigenous zebra mussels, as the article talks about, are so prolific, they are choking all the waterways and the indigenious mussels will succumb if not given any protection.
The zebras were brought in to the Great Lakes in the 80s and have rapidly moved thousands of miles downstream and up into Canada. As I understand it, there's just no way to stop these guys right now.
But the zebras aren't entirely bad guys, though. They are scavengers and are attributed with cleaning some of these waterways of algae, etc., allowing more sunlight to filter into the waterways, good for fish. So, it's a double-edged sword.
The bigger concern as far as this forum is concerned, I believe, is what lies downstream and with the rapid advance of the zebras, how much time is there before the Tennessee River and Kentucky Lake pearl farms are affected?