
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, May 13, 1990                   TAG: 9007070206
SECTION: SPORTS                    PAGE: C-13   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: Bill Cochran
DATELINE: RICHMOND                                LENGTH: Short

ZEBRA MUSSELS ON UNWANTED LIST

Officials of the Virginia Department of Game and Inland Fisheries have attempted to shut the door on the zebra mussel, a thumb-sized shellfish that is creating problems for fishermen, boaters and other water users in the Great Lakes

Board members of the department passed a regulation Friday that makes it illegal to import, cause to be imported, buy, sell, or liberate the zebra mussel in state waters. It joins the piranha, walking catfish and African clawed frog on the state's list of unwanted aquatic creatures.

David Whitehurst, chief of the departments fish division, said no zebra mussels had reached Virginia waters as far as he is aware, and he wants to educate boaters and fishermen to keep them out.

"The most likely source would be for a boat going to Lake Erie and coming back with a mussel attached to it," he said. "They can live up to eight days out of the water, so they can make the trip."

The mussels reproduce at astonishing speed, he said, and compete unfavorably with native species for food and spawning habitat.

by CNB