Haliburton & Muskoka volunteers blow the whistle on alien invaders

Haliburton & Muskoka volunteers blow the whistle on alien invaders

Local conservation-minded volunteers have helped the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters, Ontario Ministry of Natural Resources and York University blow the whistle on new sightings of alien invaders throughout the Haliburton and Muskoka region.

This summer, dozens of volunteers received a crash course in aquatic ecology and then visited local lakes and rivers with water sampling equipment provided by the Invading Species Watch summer crew. So far, over 170 lakes have been sampled throughout the province in an effort to promptly detect new sightings of invading species, namely zebra mussels and spiny water flea.

“The good news is that the majority of the lakes sampled have tested negative for invading species. Unfortunately, however, the Invading Species Watch program did discover several new sightings indicating that some boaters and anglers may not be properly disposing of their bait buckets or neglecting to spray off their boats and trailers