sophielago

dear fisher-folk: your unhappiness at the closings of lakes Casitas and Cachuma is understandable. Some people have asked what is the point of the temporary closing. Given time, scientists may develop a way to eliminate the quagga and zebra-- this story appeared today: (Media-Newswire.com) - ALBANY, NY --- Marrone Organic Innovations, Inc. ( MOI ) of Davis, Calif. has been awarded a National Science Foundation ( NSF ) grant to commercialize technology invented and patented by a New York State Museum scientist that uses a natural bacterium to control invasive mussels that have fouled water supplies across the United States. The NSF has awarded Marrone a two-year $500,000 Small Business Technology Transfer grant for the Commercialization of an Innovative Green Technology for Controlling Zebra Mussels. Last year, the State Museum selected MOI as a commercial partner for this microbial biopesticide technology that was invented and patented by Dr. Daniel Molloy, director of the Museum's Field Research Laboratory in Cambridge, N.Y. The award includes $275,000 to support the Museum's research efforts in this industry-government partnership. Another subaward of $25,000 will go to another small business, Particle and Coating Technologies, Inc. of St. Louis, Mo. to assist in product formulation. The fouling caused by zebra mussels and their close relatives, quagga mussels, represents billions of dollars in economic damage and has a major negative impact on freshwater ecosystems. To find an environmentally safe control method, Molloy's lab screened over 700 bacteria before identifying a strain of the common bacterium, Pseudomonas fluorescens, as being lethal to these mussels when ingested. and you can find more news with a Google search. sorry I can't post the link, I'm new here. Nobody wants to see lakes closed, especially the local businesses and government. Closings mean a big loss of revenue, but infestations of this so-far uncontrollable mussel mean permanent damage to the lake's ecology, and to the infrastructure which may be delivering water to local residents. You are smart people -- I'm sure you don't want to see the kind of destruction that has happened in the Great Lakes in our Western lakes. Thanks for your understanding and help.