Emergency Aquatic Nuisance Species Rules in Place on Red River

guywhofishes

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The North Dakota Game and Fish Department is implementing two new emergency rules designed to prevent the spread of zebra mussels outside the Red River.

The rules are effective immediately and may affect anglers, boaters and other users of Red River water, according to Fred Ryckman, department aquatic nuisance species coordinator. The rules address recent discoveries of young zebra mussels, an aquatic nuisance species, throughout the length of the Red River between Minnesota and North Dakota. An adult zebra mussel was also discovered at the Fargo water treatment plant.

The emergency rules are as follows:


  1. Anglers may no longer transport live bait in water away from the Red River. That means all water must be drained from bait buckets as anglers leave the shore, or remove their boat from the water. Anglers must properly dispose of unused bait away from the river, as dumping bait in the water or on shore is illegal. In the rest of the state, anglers can transport live bait in water in containers of 5 gallons or less in volume.


  1. All boats and other watercraft must have their plugs pulled when exiting the river, and plugs must remain pulled when the watercraft leaves the access area. In addition, all boats entering North Dakota must have their plugs pulled. This rule would also apply on any other waters where Class I ANS, including zebra mussels, are discovered in the future.

Violators of either of these rules are subject to citation and fines, and Game and Fish will continue to monitor angler and boater activity on the Red to ensure compliance.

“These two new rules will significantly reduce the risk that any Red River water is transported to other lakes or rivers,” Ryckman said. “It is necessary to establish the rules now because there is a lot of fishing activity in the Red this time of year, and zebra mussel veligers or larvae are likely to be present in the river for several weeks yet.”

These new regulations will be posted at all ramps along the North Dakota side of the Red River, and are in addition to other statewide aquatic nuisance species rules that are already in place. These include:


  • water must be drained from watercraft, including from livewells and bilges, prior to leaving a water body;
  • all other fish species may not be held in water and/or transported in bait buckets/containers when away from a water body;
  • no aquatic vegetation, or parts thereof, shall be in or on watercraft, motors, trailers and recreational equipment when out of water;
  • all water must be drained from all watercraft and recreational, commercial, and construction equipment bilges and confined spaces, livewells and baitwells, when out of water or upon entering the state.

The official emergency rule language is available on the Game and Fish website at gf.nd.gov. If zebra mussels are discovered in any additional waters, these rules would immediately go into effect for those waters as well.

Emergency changes to administrative rules become effective as soon as they are filed with the state’s legislative council, but must follow the administrative rule-making process, including public hearings, before the rules become permanent.

A public hearing to address the proposed amendments is scheduled for 1:15 p.m., Sept. 9 at the Game and Fish Department’s main office in Bismarck.

- - - Updated - - -

Even water in leech containers???
 


johnr

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What is little Minneapolis going to ruin next...:::

Might be what the red has been needing? after they clean the water do they die off? or is it a continual thing that once they invade they never leave?
 

Enslow

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U even are required to drain your main vein prior to leaving the boatramp.
 

Lycanthrope

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So you cant dump bait in the water, and you cant dump bait on shore. What the hell are you supposed to do with it, shove it up your ass?
 

Enslow

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What is little Minneapolis going to ruin next...:::

Might be what the red has been needing? after they clean the water do they die off? or is it a continual thing that once they invade they never leave?

The red is very clean and has habitat that is very unique due to the fine red river valley silt. devils lake would be the worst to see this happen to.
 


guywhofishes

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With all the visitors from eastern lakes (zebra country) Devils infestation is only a matter of time. : (

current_zm_quag_map-1.jpg
 

Enslow

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If devils gets zebra mussels im ordering a semi load of butthurt butter.
 

You

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yea. that's going to work........................ KNOT

enslow: order it now

"you hear that mr. anderson? That is the sound of inevidability.."
 

Enslow

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Morpheus... We meet at last... I smell your stink, it repulses me.
 
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MuskyManiac

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Three adult zebra mussels were found on the Sorlie Bridge between Grand Forks and East Grand Forks last week, the North Dakota Games and Fish Department said Monday.



The invasive species were discovered on Red River sampling equipment used by the U.S. Geological Survey, attached to an aluminum pipe about three feet below the water's surface.
The adult zebra mussels have the potential to harm water systems, boats and ecosystems, but the mussels are not currently causing any problems near Grand Forks. Still, officials are monitoring systems to make sure these problems don't occur later.
What does concern officials right now is the potential for adult zebra mussels and other aquatic nuisance species to be near other North Dakota waters that may be more habitable to zebra mussels.
"When they're in the Red River, the chance of them moving over to the Sheyenne River or the Devils Lake Basin is greater," Fred Ryckman, North Dakota Game and Fish Department aquatic nuisance species coordinator, said.
One adult zebra mussel was found in Fargo earlier this summer, according to the press release. There are now a total of four adult zebra mussels in North Dakota, including the three found in Grand Forks, according Ryckman.
"There really isn't anything we can do to remove the veligers (larval mussels) or any adult zebra mussels from the river," Ryckman said in a press release, "but we can be on alert and do everything we can to prevent them from being moved to other bodies of water."
When the early stages of zebra mussels were discovered in the Red River earlier this year, the North Dakota Game and Fish Department implemented two new emergency rules. First, anglers must drain all water from bait buckets as they leave the shore, and unused bait must be properly disposed of. Second, all boats and watercraft must have their plugs pulled when exiting the river and the access area. All boats entering North Dakota must also have their plugs pulled.
Additionally, the department asks boaters and local entities to "thoroughly check for new aquatic nuisance species infestations when pulling and storing fishing piers, boat docks and lifts" prior to winter.
'Serious concern'
Adult zebra mussels can cause serious problems for cities, such as clogging up cities' water intake pipes.
"That's one of the biggest drawbacks of the zebra mussel," Ryckman said.
Zebra mussels "like to stay on the inside of pipes," Ryckman said, and sometimes they can back up the pipe's intake. To get rid of the mussels, officials have to backflush the pipes and apply treatment.
"They are a serious concern to water maintenance," Ryckman said.
As of right now, the adult zebra mussels haven't caused problems with Grand Forks city water maintenance, according to John Goetz, Grand Forks city water plant supervisor.
The city of Grand Forks monitors its intake structures annually for zebra mussels, and in the beginning of 2016, divers will go into the Red River to check the intake structures for zebra mussels, according to Goetz.
If zebra mussels do eventually pose a problem for water intake, Ryckman and Goetz said that it will be easier to deal with the mussels now than it was in the past.
"The technology is getting better and better as [zebra mussels] are showing up," Goetz said.
In addition to water systems, zebra mussels have an impact on aquatic ecosystems. "The zebra mussels feed on organisms that are primary food sources for newly hatched game fish," according to a press release. But Ryckman said that's not a major concern in the Red River by Grand Forks. The silt in the Red River is "not a good zebra mussel habitat," he said.
"I don't think they're going to establish any kind of large numbers," Ryckman said about the Red River area.
It's good for people to know what zebra mussels look like so they can watch out for them, Rochelle Nustad, U.S. Geological Survey hydrologist, said. Zebra mussels are about the size of a dime, so "you have to know what you're looking for," Nustad said.
The department asks citizens who discover zebra mussels to leave them attached, take a digital picture and report it immediately to a local Game and Fish Department district office.
Zebra mussel veligers, or the early live stage of mussels, were discovered in the Red River between North Dakota and Minnesota in June, according to a press release. The veligers are microscopic larvae that "float with the current," attaching to hard surfaces, such as fishing piers, boat docks and lifts.
Because of the veligers, the discovery of adult zebra mussels in Fargo and Grand Forks weren't a surprise, but they are a "major concern" because it means the mussels have become "more populous," Nustad said.
The only known population of established zebra mussels in the Red River basin is in the Otter Tail River watershed in Minnesota, according to a press release.
 


Enslow

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Thats not good and very close to spilling into ND lakes. You would think the NDGF would be allover this and requiring boats from the east to be washed since the record NR fishing license sales are such a cash cow for them.
 

You

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remember back when devils lake didn't have zebra mussels?
 

Lycanthrope

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Someone just needs to haul some red river water to devils and sak and get this shit over with.... Dont the zebras spawn at just one time of year, when the little ones are actually swimming/moving in the water?
 


Captainbrad

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This is one that obviously hits pretty close to home with me because it could and probably will affect my bottom line in a negative way. Even so this "emergency regulation" is flawed and now the law of ND. If you read the end of the original posting it says all the regs go into affect should any zebra mussel be found in another ND water. YES, this does affect leeches and all the minnows people carry around all winter long. This will turn the guiding and angling community upside down in ND.

I drove to Bismarck for the hearing September 15th and only three other people showed up to support of attempt to amend the regs going forth. It is very clear that nobody really cares about this issue and a price will be paid in the future.
 

eyexer

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zebra mussels did no harm to fishing in Lake Erie. It probably made it what it is today. It'll be in Devils with a few years.
 

deleted_account

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zebra mussels did no harm to fishing in Lake Erie. It probably made it what it is today. It'll be in Devils with a few years.

comparing devils to Erie.;:;banghead
when zebes make it to devils we can kiss that kick ass shallow water bite goodbye
 

Enslow

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Eyexer i had no idea you were this effin stupid. Wow
 


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