Mussel-tainted vessel halted in Spokane

SANDPOINT — A boat infested with invasive mussels was detained on Tuesday in Spokane, Wash., an Idaho State Department of Agriculture official said.

The tainted vessel was spotted on a trailer being towed northbound on Interstate 84 in Utah on Monday, sparking concern that it could be headed for an Idaho waterway.

Quagga and zebra mussels are not present in Idaho and once they take hold in a body of water, they’re impossible to get rid of, according to ISDA.

The sighting was relayed to authorities in Utah, who passed the information along to officials in Idaho, said Pamela Juker, ISDA’s director of communications.

Juker said the department was still piecing together the sequence of events that led to the boat’s discovery.

“It ended up in Spokane, but we’re not sure how and which roads it traveled,” Juker said.

Officials initially had scant information to work with.

The boat was named Hello, but there was no further description of the vessel or the vehicle that was towing it. Alerts were issued to area marinas and law enforcement, including the Bonner County Sheriff’s marine patrol.

Word of the sighting in Utah also appeared on the Idaho Conservation League blog, a post which other Web sites linked to.

Juker said somebody spotted one of the posts on the Web, recalled seeing the boat in Spokane and alerted authorities.

“She let the officers know where it was and they went there, and sure enough, there it was,” Juker said.

Juker said Washington Fish & Game officials were still trying to determine on Tuesday who owned the boat and what its final destination was. She said it was a 26-foot cabin cruiser with encrusted mussels on its hull and propeller.

Officials at Fish & Game’s field office in Spokane were not immediately available and a phone message was not returned on Tuesday.

The discovery comes as Idaho intensifies efforts to keep the bivalve mollusks out of the state and amid mounting concern that they are closing in on the inland Northwest.

Quagga mussels have turned up in Nevada, Arizona, Utah and Colorado over the last several years, ISDA said. Zebra mussels were discovered in Utah and Colorado last year, the department said.

The mussels can live for several days out of the water and reproduce quickly. They are notorious for clogging water intake pipes and treatment plants, and for coating docks and boats.

The filter-feeding mollusks also disrupt the ecological balance of water bodies by consuming significant amounts of phytoplankton, which other aquatic species depend upon.

Juker said Idaho caught a lucky break, largely due to informed citizens in Utah and the inland Northwest.

“Obviously, outreach and education is real important with this,” she said.