Boaters leaving Canyon Lake will now have to take extra steps to clean their watercraft to help halt the spread of an invasive species. Arizona Game and Fish Department officials found an adult quagga mussel attached to the hull of a boat in mid-December.
The quagga mussel comes from Ukraine and is classified by Game and Fish as an invasive species.
It’s almost impossible to completely eliminate the mussels from a lake, said Tom McMahon, the department’s aquatic invasive species program coordinator.
“But, maybe we can try and contain them, and that’s really where our job comes with Game and Fish,” he said. “We try and help the public to not move these things any further.”
Quagga mussels were first found in Arizona at Lake Mead in 2007. With few natural predators, it reproduces rapidly and easily clogs drains, pumps, and boat engines.