Right in the centre - Thinking before acting might have been better

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Published on Thursday, February 20, 2025

By Ken Waddell

Neepawa Banner & Press

I have been watching various news releases about Zebra Mussels in Clear Lake for a couple of years now. 

Initially, government officials vowed to fight off the mussels by insisting that boats be scrubbed between uses. I laughed inside a bit about that. For the last 40 years or so, few, if any, jurisdictions, have been able to control these nasty little, pipe clogging, boat encrusting, sharp-shelled critters. 

First, the government restricted boats, even boats that never left Clear Lake. They restricted rental paddle boats for heaven’s sake and they don’t leave Clear Lake either. Then they put up a dam around the infestation, but they forgot to get permission from the wind and waves and the plastic dam was destroyed in a matter of days. 

The whole affair would be quite laughable actually if it weren’t so serious and sad. The government wasn’t going to be able to contain the mussels, they spent a lot of money trying and they placed a whole batch of restrictions, causing havoc with the tourism business at Clear Lake. I think the government and Parks Canada were pretty dumb on this issue. 

Then, just last week it was reported in the Winnipeg Free Press that, “In a late-January news release, Parks Canada announced it would reopen the lake to boaters in 2025, albeit under a “one boat, one lake” program, after finding hundreds of young zebra mussels on the eastern side of the lake — a couple of kilometres east of the main marina where staff first found evidence of the invasive species. 

“Data gathered in 2024 demonstrated that zebra mussels are much more spread out in the lake than initially thought,” Parks Canada said in an email. 

“As such, an eradication attempt would not be feasible.” 

I think anyone with an ounce of intelligence had that “more wide spread” statement figured out long before the Parks Canada people did. 

At a press conference on August 12th, 1986, US President Ronald Reagan said, “The nine most terrifying words in the English language are ‘I’m from the government and I’m here to help.’” 

That statement still rings true unfortunately! 

This whole Zebra Mussels debacle at Clear Lake didn’t stop the mussels and most of us knew they wouldn’t stop them. The government spent a whole lot of money for nothing and cost Clear Lake people a fortune in lost business. 

It’s still a matter of discussion, but it is reported that Zebra Mussels may actual clean up lakes, but perhaps Clear Lake doesn’t need cleaning. Just the same, an internet search shows that “Mussels are filter feeders, which means they feed by clearing nutrients from the water passing through them. The rate of reproduction and spread of zebra mussels make them efficient cleaners of Great Lakes water, but whether that’s a positive or negative thing depends on who you’re asking.” 

There is no doubt that Zebra Mussels are persistent in reproducing, they clog water intake pipes and encrust just about everything they come in contact with. They can be controlled by using potassium in the water but that topic would need some more research. That would be a good idea in the same way that it would have been better if Parks Canada researched how ineffective their efforts of the past two years have been.