This article is over 5 years old and may contain outdated information.

Environment

Zebra mussels spell doom for Lake Winnipeg ecosystem

  • Dec 28, 2015
  • 270 words
  • 2 minutes
Expand Image
Advertisement
Advertisement
Advertisement

Lake Winnipeg’s ecosystem is likely to experience “a complete and eventual collapse” because of invasive zebra mussels, says a University of Winnipeg biologist.

Eva Pip told Global News in October that the zebra mussel problem in the lake was an irreversible problem, adding that the situation is so far gone it could be as little as two years before people start to see the effects of the mussels on the lake’s ecosystem.

“The only way to deal with this is to not let the problem start in the first place and we certainly missed the boat on that now,” Pip told Global. “What we can do now is try to slow the spread into other lakes and rivers in Manitoba. But once you have the numbers that we already have in Lake Winnipeg, that becomes a very daunting issue.”

The mussels were first spotted in the lake in 2013, the CBC reported, and have since proliferated to the point where boats are being pulled from the lake completely covered in the creature.

The lake, which is the tenth largest freshwater lake in the world by surface area, is of huge economic and cultural value. According to the government of Manitoba, more than 23,000 permanent residents live in 30 communities along its shores, including 11 First Nations communities. In 2010-2011, 1,069 licensed fishers and their helpers were employed in the commercial fishery on Lake Winnipeg. During the same period, the total landed value of commercial fish production from the lake was $16,259,317.

Advertisement

Help us tell Canada’s story

You can support Canadian Geographic in 3 ways:

Tracking Sir John Franklin's Ships

This story is from the January/February 2016 Issue

Related Content

Exploration

All Too Clear: Beneath the surface of the upcoming feature film

Documentary filmmakers Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick on the making of their upcoming TVO special about life near the bottom of the food chain. Plus: Behind-the-scenes shots from Inspired Planet Productions. 

  • 1678 words
  • 7 minutes

Environment

Space invasion: Is it too late to save the Great Lakes?

How a cocktail of invasive species and global change is altering the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River ecosystem

  • 2231 words
  • 9 minutes

Exploration

Documentary filmmakers find 1895 steamship wreck in Lake Huron

Yvonne Drebert and Zach Melnick set out to make a documentary about invasive quagga mussels in the Great Lakes. Along the way, they found the wreck of what is likely the steamship Africa, last seen on a stormy October night in 1895.

  • 2988 words
  • 12 minutes
A plain pocketbook mussel and its lure

Wildlife

Lessons in interconnectivity: Ottawa River mussels

Jill Heinerth explores what can we learn from the lifecycle of freshwater mussels

  • 821 words
  • 4 minutes
Advertisement
Advertisement