Jeff Berthelette, the outreach liaison with the Ontario Federation of Anglers and Hunters Invading Species Awareness Program, and a few of his colleagues and volunteers were at Camp Wanakita last week removing invasive Chinese Mysterysnails and Banded Mysterysnails from the water.
“It was a really fun day and we spoke to hundreds of campers, informing them of invasive species and how to prevent their spread,” Berthelette said. He said they removed 1,210 invasive snails from Koshlong lake.
He added, the snails can severely degrade water quality and ecosystems that can impact fisheries and recreation. He noted some well-known species, such as zebra mussels and round goby, have already received a fair bit of attention.
“Chinese Mysterysnails and Banded Mysterysnails can both have similar impacts as they can prey on native fish eggs but can even spread parasites that cause intestinal fluke,” he said.
Berthelette said there had been a tremendous effort to eradicate these invasive species by a team of volunteers and staff who have taken mandatory training in order to become certified to remove the snails by hand.
To date, they have removed more than 700,000 snails and hope to reach one million.
For more information on the invasive snail: invadingspecies.com.
