Efforts to stop mussel spread ramp up

With summer officially starting Friday, efforts to stop invasive aquatic mussels coming into B.C. on boats are ramping up.

Chris Doyle, Deputy Chief of the B.C. Conservation Officer Service, said they have 12 inspection stations operating along the borders, one roving station in the Okanagan, and two detector dogs.

Doyle says 5,500 watercraft have been inspected to the end of May. Five were found with zebra or quagga mussels.

“These came from Ontario, two of them, and one from Michigan, Utah and North Carolina. They were coming from areas that had mussels in their water systems,” Doyle said.