Zebra Mussels - National Invasive Species Week

15th to 21st May 2023 is national Invasive species week, which has been established to help highlight information and concerns about the growing threat to our wildlife, environment, infrastructure, health, society and economy from Non-Native Invasive Species.

You may not already know that sections of Bude Harbour and the lower part of the canal are impacted by non-native invasive Zebra mussels.

This is a small population of Zebra mussels at Bude Canal, as it is a sub-optimal habitat for them and they were mostly likely brought to the canal on the hull or in the ballast water of a boat, but we will never know for sure how they arrived. They are a freshwater mussel with dark and light zigzag stripes, up to 5cm long and Bude is the only place that they are known to have impacted in Cornwall. Whilst they are small, they are prolific and differ from our native mussels by attaching to hard surfaces, this habit mean they pose a real threat of smothering our native mussels, blocking pipes and impact on angling and watercraft.

What are we doing about it?

We are working with a range of local people, organisations and experts to manage this species to prevent its spread to our reservoirs protecting our wildlife, our hobbies and our water supply.

In an exciting initiative, South West Water and Cornwall Council are working in partnership to prevent the spread of Zebra mussels from Bude Canal and are hoping to instigate a pilot control plan in 2023.

We hope to eradicate this invasive species from Bude; this also means from Cornwall!

But we need your help to achieve this positive aim, and would like all users of the canal and harbour to be aware of and follow some simple best practice for biosecurity.

Biosecurity is an important tool for us all to prevent the spread of Zebra mussels between waterways.

Please follow the simple three step process to reduce the risk of moving Zebra mussels from Bude canal into any other local water body.

When leaving Bude Canal please:

CHECK your equipment and watercraft to make sure there are no plant or animal stowaways.

CLEAN your equipment leaving any plant or animal stowaways on site where they are already present.

DRY your equipment for at least 48 hours (preferably in sunlight) before entering another waterbody.

Important note! -

Juvenile Zebra mussels can spread through pockets of water i.e. patches on a boat or within angling equipment. These are so small there are invisible to the naked eye, but can survive in these damp areas for over 2 weeks.

So, please ensure you check, clean and dry equipment before visiting any other waterbody.