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(boat motor revving)
[Narrator] In Lake Texoma, there lurks a tiny striped
invader that is causing problems for motor boats and water supply systems.
[Todd Robinson] They have the ability to attach to hard substrates
that are upright in water, meaning they could attach to your boat, they could attach into
pipes, onto pumps, any means of water conveyance. They are a general nuisance.
[Narrator] They’re called zebra mussels and Texas Parks
and Wildlife is trying to stop the spread of this invasive species with a new law aimed
at getting boaters to drain all water from their boats before leaving an infested lake.
(diesel motor)
[Todd Robinson] If they spot adult attached zebra mussels
on their boat when they pull it up onto the ramp, they are required to remove all of those
organisms before they trailer it away down the highway. We urge them to go ahead and
have the maintenance staff at the marina that they're at go ahead and pressure wash the
boat to remove them off right there at the lake.
[Narrator] Zebra mussels originated from Eurasia and
are believed to have been transported in ballast water from ships into the Great Lakes. They’re
spreading across the country and now they’ve made their way into Lake Texoma and Sister
Grove Creek. The new law applies to boaters leaving the Red River basin in Wichita County
downstream to the Arkansas border. With the summer boating season under way, Texas Parks
and Wildlife is ramping up awareness around Lake Texoma.
[Todd Robinson] We are deploying buoys at 17 different marinas
and we have signage at all of the access points. We have billboards out on the highway, and
at all the gas stations, we have pump toppers.
[Todd Robinson] We're putting 6ft by 8ft stencils at several
locations.
[Todd Robinson] They are here and they're not going anywhere.
There's no way to totally eradicate them. At this point we're just wanting to keep them
in Lake Texoma and prevent their spread throughout the rest of Texas.
[Narrator] For Texas Parks and Wildlife, this is Lydia
Saldaña.