ZEBRA MUSSELS FOUND IN ROY LAKE

    Last week, the invasive species zebra mussels were discovered in Roy Lake. A new division of South Dakota’s Game, Fish, and Parks (GFP) Department was deployed to respond to the situation.
    GFP announced on Friday that it has established a “Zebra Mussel Rapid Response Team,” aimed at enabling swifter action in the event of a zebra mussel infestation discovery. Employees have been out surveying and sampling lakes across the state to monitor fish populations and for the presence of zebra mussels.
    Fisheries Program Manager, Jake Davis, said about the Rapid Response Team, “We are working with the public and GFP staff to quickly notify anglers, boaters, and other recreational users of a zebra mussel presence in a waterbody and to help educate water users.”
    The team recently responded to a property owner on Roy Lake, in Marshall County, who had found mussels when removing their dock.
    “We were contacted by a cabin owner about the possible presence of mussels on Wednesday. We traveled to Roy Lake and confirmed those were zebra mussels,” Davis said. “We then conducted a follow-up survey and found additional mussels. Going forward we will consider Roy Lake to have zebra mussels.”
    The response team will place high-profile signs on access areas, actively engage boaters using the infested water, reiterate information on decontamination requirements, and identify groups of people and entities that will be potentially affected by the infestation.
    “We have updated the AIS signs at Roy Lake access points and have notified DOT so they can place the larger signs as well,” Davis said. 
    “Boaters and anglers in this area can expect to see additional reminders to ‘clean, drain, dry’ on physical signs, in their email inboxes, and on social media,” said GFP Communications Manager, Nick Harrington.
    GFP has significantly enhanced efforts to slow the spread of aquatic invasive species (AIS) in recent years, both educating anglers and boaters to clean, drain, dry every time they are on the water as well as physically inspecting boats prior to and/or after loading.
    “GFP also conducted watercraft inspection stations throughout the summer months, even with fall upon us, boaters and anglers are reminded to always remember to clean, drain, and dry every time,” concluded Harrington.
    You can learn more about AIS by visiting SDLeastWanted.sd.gov!