How one Davis lab is trying to stop California's golden mussel invasion
The first known detection of the invasive golden mussel in all of North America happened in California.
This invasive species has prompted states of emergency, both in San Joaquin County, where they were found at the Port of Stockton, and in Yolo County, where they were found to have spread to the Port of West Sacramento. It's posing a huge threat to Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta waterways.
It's threatening billions of dollars in losses for farmers and could choke California's water supply. Working to help stop it is the Davis-based Invasive Species Corporation, which is stepping up with a possible solution.
Research scientist Brady Hirschfeld studies how to stop the rapid golden mussel invasion.
"It's really rewarding to be on this side of things," Hirschfeld said. "I'm really proud to be part of the solution to kill golden mussels."
The patent-protected product being tested is zequanox, created first to kill other invasive zebra and quagga mussels. Now, it's being redeveloped and retested to root out the goldens, which are notoriously resilient and hard to kill.
Also trying to slow down the spread is Pam Marrone.
"These mussels are ranked the top five worst invasive species on the planet, causing many billions of dollars of damage," Marrone said. "So we're really tackling a big problem. We're excited we can do that."
She is working to get zequanox approved for full use in golden mussels.
"We're alone. In fact, we're the only company, I think, in the world that's actually tackling invasive species in water," Marrone said.
How it works
In the lab, the mussels are exposed to zequanox, where Marrone says, "they'll eat it, it'll slowly take effect and they'll die."
Marrone noted that zequanox is biodegradable, with no impact on surrounding creatures and habitat.
"It doesn't harm fish or the native mollusks or anything, anything else," he said.
The test subjects were collected in Stockton, and a local marina there will be the first site to test zequanox on golden mussels in the wild this fall.
The city's port is ground zero for the delta invasion.
"Eradication is, in my opinion, unthinkable. They're here to stay," said San Joaquin County Supervisor Mario Gardea. "It's about mitigation."
Gardea sits on a board committee to tackle golden mussels and said the response requires local, state and federal action.
"Anything that touches our delta, anything that has to do with water is going to be affected," he said.
Golden mussels can eradicate fish populations and erode delta habitats, and California farmers could lose their water.
Marrone said the impact on community members could mean water flows being stopped due to infestations.
Next steps involve getting zequanox approved for use in golden mussels through the California Environmental Protection Agency and hoping to get this rolled out in local waterways next year, possibly sooner, if California approves an emergency use.
