Help Wanted! Asian Clam Response Teams

Look at the lake bottom. Just look at it.

Sorry. We know it’s depressing. But still.

Instead of sandy shores, you’re looking at these disgusting lake mats covered in Asian clam colonies. Did we mention your lake property values are decreasing while your local property taxes are going up? Hey, someone has to pay for the clean up of the bio-spill.

Pike Up! If we don’t get serious about preventing the spread Asian Clams, they will be joining Ms Quagga’s and Ms Zebra’s mission of complete water domination. 

 POSTSTAR.COM- LAKE GEORGE –Jon Alexander-8-8-2011- Two more populations of Asian clams have been discovered in Lake George, and the skyrocketing price tag for controlling the invasive species has at least one local official considering a trip to Albany to lobby for cash.

Surveyors from the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute's Darrin Freshwater Institute and the Lake George Association found two small Asian clam colonies late last week - one in Norwall Marina in Bolton Landing and another near the Treasure Cove Resort in Diamond Point.

Asian Clam mats - Not an ideal shore line!

The finds come on the heels of last month's discovery of a 5-acre Asian Clam population in Boone Bay in Bolton. Before that, local officials and environmentalists had hoped the Asian clam population found last year in the South Basin was an anomaly.

"This is obviously going to increase the expense of the project," said Walt Lender, executive director of the Lake George Association. Throughout the spring, the Lake George Asian Clam Rapid Response Task Force - a collection of state regulators, local officials and environmental protection groups, planned an outright eradication of the South Basin population. But cash ran short, and the planned suction harvesting process was scrapped. Subsequently, a $500,000 project, using only mats designed to suffocate the algae-causing mollusk, was used. To Read More…