Animals, plants and parasites that are not native to a region and out-compete native species for available resources are known as Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS). AIS grow and become successful in their new environment due to the absence of native and natural predators and diseases, and they have a high reproductive rate. Invasive species can become detrimental to the natural habitat of a water body simply by over-populating, eating important food sources of native species and acting aggressively towards competing critters.
When it comes to Aquatic Invasive Species, many Manitobans are familiar with zebra mussels that came up through the Great Lakes and have infected Lake Winnipeg, the Red River and Cedar Lake.
However, Manitoba currently has 17 aquatic invasive species, zebra mussels being only one.
Candace Parks is the Aquatic Invasive Species (AIS) Specialist for the Province of Manitoba. Parks says there are more AIS that are threatening to cross the borders, both provincially and internationally.
“We do have the AIS species in Manitoba, but we can’t rest on our laurels here and think this is the only thing that’s coming at us,” she says. “There are other things literally knocking at the door in Manitoba like Asian Carp, Quagga Mussels, and New Zealand Mud Snail.”
“Zebra Mussels are like the ‘poster-child’ of Aquatic Invasive Species, but there are other threats that are almost at our borders that we need to be mindful of so that when people move across borders they’re not bringing something into Manitoba.”
One of the worst AIS is the Asian Carp, not to be confused with the Common Carp that is currently in many of our lakes and rivers already.
Though the Common Carp are prolific, grow to be enormous size and eat natural habitat, they are not as detrimental to waterbodies like the Asian Carp.
“When people refer to Asian or Invasive Carp, they’re not actually referring to ‘Common Carp’,” explains Parks, “they’re actually referring to 4 other species: Grass, Bighead, Black and Silver Carp. I’d say the... next big threat in Manitoba is bringing in Asian Carp because they’re sitting in North Dakota and Minnesota right now.”
Parks explains her experiences working at the International Border Crossing at Emerson and seeing anglers bring live bait over the border into Canada. Baby carp can look like minnows and be mistaken for bait fish.
The Province is working with Border Patrol Services to stop the spread of AIS.
Candace Parks will be holding AIS Training Level 1 on Tuesday, July 28th in Killarney. She is also providing a hands-on / informational session in the evening of July 28th for community members who are interested in learning more about the current Aquatic Invasive Species and the those that are threatening to cross borders.
For more information, visit the following website:
https://www.gov.mb.ca/sd/environment_and_biodiversity/invasive_species/fish_and_wildlife/index.html
If you suspect an Aquatic Invasive Species, click on the link below to learn more:
Fri, Apr 19, 10:00 AM
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