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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | The Quagga Mussel has recently begun eating it's way through Lake Michigan's phytoplankton populations, threatening to destroy the Lakes food web.
In 1998 Michigan Technological University biologist W Charles Kerfoot and his research team discovered the "Phytoplankton Doughnut" which is formed when winter storms kick up nutrient-rich sediment along the southeastern shore of Lake Michigan. The disturbed sediments begin circulating in a slow-moving doughnut shaped circle with the lake's currents and provides a massive supply of food for phytoplankton's.
This doughnut, in turn feeds the entire lake. Zooplankton, feeding on phytoplankton, thrive there. This seasonal bloom helps them survive the winter months. The doughnut helps them maintain the entire food web.
However, the doughnut, recognized by the signature of the plants chlorophyll pigment that captures sunlight has started to disappear. Since 2001, the chlorophyll has been nibbled away on the edges, right where the Quagga's live, Kerfoot said. Kerfoot believes a high percent of the fish biomass could be lost in the next couple of years. The impact from a tiny quagga, which is no larger then a fat Lima Bean, could soon render moot the more headline grabbing concerns about the invasive zebra mussel or Asian Carp. |
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| Ya need a strike one and two first. Another red flag of a hundred over the decades and none have done anything. |
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Location: Rhinelander | None have done anything? The ecosystem is changing fast due to invasives, and many negative impacts have already occurred. This one isn't good at all.
Ignoring the science will just result in the 'What the hell was the DNR DOING?? Here we are with this issue, and no one said a THING about it!" stuff we see so frequently. |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | Quagga's, unlike the Zebras can live and survive in the most deepest parts of the Lake. Parts that used to at least provide temporary shelter areas for a portion of the ecosystems Planktavites. And yes, our Great Lakes have proven very resilient to what has amounted to an 80 year invasive onslaught starting with the lamprey EEL. I surely receive no pleasure, seek recognition or want to cry wolf from posting about yet another threat to our favorite pastime. Keeping informed about the fishery is the goal. And I guess if actually counting each Great lakes invasive's as strikes, this would probably be about strike 187. But how many times can the body fight off cancer before dying from it?
Edited by walleye express 11/13/2010 12:40 PM
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| This is serious business. My brother checked the stomachs of the few perch he caught this year... usually out of New Buffalo. The stomachs have been empty which leads one to think that there isn't a lot of food available for them to eat. Check out OGF forums on Lake Erie and the perch bite over there this fall has been phenomenal. For the southern stretches of Lake Michigan, on the other hand, there just aren't any reports of decent perch being caught. There is even more mystery. The numbers of steelhead migrating upstream in the St. Joseph River are no where near what they've been in past years. No one seems to have an explanation either. There is risk of a multi-billion dollar sportfishing industry to just dry up and blow away.
If anyone has answers, I'd certainly like to hear of them. I would hate to see Lake Michigan become a "Dead Sea" of fresh water. Are there any natural enemies, such as bacteria or insects, which are natural enemies to the quaggas? Would it help to drop some boulders down in 20-30 feet of water to create some artificial reefs, somewhere out of normal shipping channels? |
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Location: Essexville, MI./Saginaw Bay. | There was indeed similar gloom and doom scenarios predicted when the Zebra Mussel came on the scene and they did indeed caused some damage to the ecosystem. The Zebras dealt Lake Huron's Alewife populations the final death blow when they filtered out a big portion of their Planktavite food source. And the over stocking of salmon during that time also contributed. Because of the Zebra, the fry of the alewives were starved from one end and because of the over stocking of salmon, the adult spawning biomass of alewife were decimated from the other end. And when the alewives (our salmons main food source) disappeared, so did our salmon.
What we have found out since, is that a lot of different kinds of fish and birds have added Zebra Mussels to their own food source, creating an equalizer of sorts. I've seen Zebra Mussels in Catfish, Sheepshead, White Bass, Perch and even a few Walleyes I've caught. And I'm sure a lot of others species are eating them. Zebras hatch, live and thrive in shallow/warmer waters then does the Quagga. The Quagga's (who are twice as big and filters twice as much water per day then the Zebras) will remain immune and away from any of these preditory, equalizing antidotes, because they can live and thrive in much deeper/colder waters then the Zebras. Places that used to be a safety refuge for the Lakes Planktavites are now a safety refuge for the things eating them. Not Good.
Edited by walleye express 11/18/2010 8:28 AM
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