Tahoe Asian Clam Battle
071110
Tahoe Battles Asian Clams
A major effort is being taken to smother Asian clams in Lake Tahoe.
The little clams are digging down into the soil and bringing up nutrients which in turn feed algae which the clams eat. They are increasing the nutrients in the nitrogen cycle in the lake and threaten to change the lake forever.
In a move that is reminiscent of the attempt to cap the oil gusher in the Gulf, the plan is to smother the clams with long rubber mats.
The mats starve the little critters for oxygen, causing them to move up out of the mud, and then die, in about a month.
The process will result in a couple of tons of dead clams, which will surely provide yet more nutrition to the lake. Still, no one has a better idea, and killing the little snappers this way seems the best choice available.
No one has suggested that perhaps dredge miners, their equipment silenced because of claims they disturb latent mercury in California rivers, might suck the little clams right out of the sediment, though of course something would have to be done with the discharge.
Even if the smother idea works, it won’t solve the problem, and the battle against Asian Clams in Lake Tahoe will likely never end.
Tahoe is filthy with non-native species, many of them introduced on purpose.
Clams from here.
More Info on the project here.
Tahoe Battles Asian Clams
A major effort is being taken to smother Asian clams in Lake Tahoe.
The little clams are digging down into the soil and bringing up nutrients which in turn feed algae which the clams eat. They are increasing the nutrients in the nitrogen cycle in the lake and threaten to change the lake forever.
In a move that is reminiscent of the attempt to cap the oil gusher in the Gulf, the plan is to smother the clams with long rubber mats.
The mats starve the little critters for oxygen, causing them to move up out of the mud, and then die, in about a month.
The process will result in a couple of tons of dead clams, which will surely provide yet more nutrition to the lake. Still, no one has a better idea, and killing the little snappers this way seems the best choice available.
No one has suggested that perhaps dredge miners, their equipment silenced because of claims they disturb latent mercury in California rivers, might suck the little clams right out of the sediment, though of course something would have to be done with the discharge.
Even if the smother idea works, it won’t solve the problem, and the battle against Asian Clams in Lake Tahoe will likely never end.
Tahoe is filthy with non-native species, many of them introduced on purpose.
Clams from here.
More Info on the project here.
