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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
November 11, 1997

Source: Pat Charlebois  (847) 872-0140

Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant Graduate Fellowships

Boat owners are urged to check their boats for zebra mussels as they prepare boats for winter storage. "We really need people to report zebra mussels found in inland waters," said Pat Charlebois, nonindigenous species specialist with the Illinois Indiana Sea Grant College Program. "We rely heavily on reports from individual citizens and lake associations. Lots of lakes have citizen monitoring, but sampling stations may be limited, and boaters can be a big help in monitoring for adult zebra mussels. The perfect time for a quick check is when boats are taken out of the water for storage. To prevent transportation of zebra mussels to uninfested lakes, it's critical that we know which lakes are infested," Charlebois noted.

In Illinois, zebra mussels have been reported in the Illinois River and in the upper Mississippi, with unconfirmed reports of some at Sangchris Lake in central Illinois. They have been reported at several locations in northern Indiana.

When checking their boats, people should look for small, D-shaped clams, usually with black and white stripes similar to stripes on zebras. Charlebois said, "We would like for people to save any zebra mussels they find so that we can catalog them. They can contact us for instructions on preserving and sending the mussels."

Charlebois noted that the following boat areas should be checked:

livewells
transoms
nooks and crannies especially on boat exteriors
boat hulls

Zebra mussels were transported from Europe in ballast water of ships to the Great Lakes in the late 1980s.

The tiny mussels form large clusters that can clog water lines and damage boat engine cooling systems. Millions of dollars have been spent in clean-up costs in the Great Lakes.

For more information, or to report finding zebra mussels, contact Pat Charlebois at
847-872-0140; e-mail charlebo@illinois.edu.

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The Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant College Program is one of more than 30 National Sea Grant College Programs. Created by Congress in 1966, Sea Grant combines university, government, business and industry expertise to address coastal and Great Lakes needs. Funding is provided by the National Oceanic Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), U. S. Department of Commerce, the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Purdue University at West Lafayette, Indiana.