East Bay boaters navigate new inspection process to fight spread of invasive golden mussel
LIVERMORE — All across Northern California, the fight is on to prevent the spread of an invasive shellfish called the golden mussel. It has the potential to do billions of dollars in damage to water infrastructure and, as a result, the East Bay Regional Park District has announced changes to the way boaters can operate on its lakes.
When golden mussels were first discovered on a float near the Port of Stockton last year, it sent shockwaves through Northern California water agencies.
The invasive mollusk, native to Asia, can thrive in most kinds of water and reproduces rapidly, fouling pipes and motors and just about anything it gets a hold of. And that spells bad news for fishermen like Ali Moayedi.
"It just feels like the ecosystem is really fragile and any minute you could lose whatever lake you're fishing at. So, it's kind of … it is scary, to say the least," said Ali. "I'm scared to go to the Delta because then I might not be let back into here. Which is kind of scary, too!"
For Ali, "here" is Lake Del Valle above Livermore. The lake already had an inspection program for invasive mussels that requires a band be fastened between boats and trailers, allowing them to move between various lakes in the East Bay Regional Park District without being re-inspected. But that's about to change.
"This is a new invasive mussel and we are responsible to not spread it from waterway to waterway," said East Bay Parks' Jordan Traverso. "And so, our boat banding program is changing. We'll now have, starting on May 7th, color coding bands so that you can return to the same water body with a particular color of band. But we will not be using bands from one water body to the other, as we have been in the past."
That means moving a boat from lake to lake will mean a re-inspection process that requires the boat to be completely cleaned and dried — which can take up to a week under normal conditions. And the inspection rules apply to any kind of watercraft, including wakeboards, kayaks and inflatables.
If that sounds difficult, it's nothing compared to some lakes. EBMUD has banned launching any watercraft of any kind into its reservoirs, and Folsom Lake has a banding program that involves a 30-day quarantine to allow boats to dry completely.
"For me, coming out to fish is like therapy, you know?" said Nick Simard. "My mental health wouldn't be the best after 30 days, for sure."
Simard appreciates that the park district's program is a little less draconian. But he also doubts that Lake Del Valle will stay mussel-free, especially if the creatures are already in the Delta.
"There are certain bodies of water, such as Lake Del Valle, that get Delta water put into the lake. So, if they're worried about the mussels being in the Delta, then it's likely going to be eventually in here, as well."
The park district's spokesperson seemed to agree with that.
"I don't believe that we have detected any in our lakes yet, but I think there's sort of an idea of inevitability that it will happen at some point," said Traverso. "So, the constant inspections are really the best that we can do to protect our lakes from having any kind of infestation."
And with no way to eradicate the pest once it invades an area, avid boaters like Ali will probably have to stay tethered to a single lake by a color-coded band.
"And you're afraid that once they cut that band off, that might be the last time you fish this lake," he said. "So, I'm tied into this lake now … which is fine, I love this lake. But I would like to, just for variety, go somewhere else and do something else."
The state has been battling other invasive mussels for years, but the golden mussel is a game changer. And it looks like the way people boat in California is changing, as well.
