The Attack of Kudzu! No, it's not a 1950s horror movie. Wake up!

You’ve had quite a week.

One meeting after another meeting. 3am nightcaps with Pepcid AC. The neighbor’s dog rabidly barked all night long. The prized Blue Bonnets your mother planted on the shores of the lake –GONE!

So go ahead, take that extra 30 minutes of shut-eye this morning.

But when you wake up, it’s time you join the Bob Lake movement!

KUDZU is coming and the TexasRAT needs our help!

Kudzu covered house. You think it's a tough housing market now...
Just wait until Kudzu moves in. 

GALVESTON, Texas A&M  News,  Aug. 23, 2011 – It sounds like a 1950s B-horror movie — Attack of the Invasive Species — but the battle of invading plants and animals could be coming to your front door and is costing you millions of dollars. Two Texas A&M University at Galveston researchers are on the forefront of the fight.

Anna Armitage and Antonietta Quigg, marine biologists on the Galveston campus, have been studying how numerous plants and some animals not native to Texas have taken a very un-Texan like attitude about occupying as many wetlands and prairies as they can with the idea of a total takeover.

Both researchers are part of a group called TexRAT (Texas Rapid Assessment Team), a collection of state and federal agencies, universities and non-governmental groups that is studying invasive plants and animals that threaten the ecological and economic health of Texas. Its goal is similar to the fight in those horror flicks, but without the flamethrowers and army tanks — they are concentrating on whipping the pesky invaders through scientific means.

Dr. Anna Armitage - Coastal and Wetlands
Ecology Expert

“The first thing we (TexRAT) are trying to do is measure the scope and size of the problem,” says Armitage. “We need to identify what we’re up against, locate these invasive habitats and then devise a plan to stop their continued growth.  We already know it’s not going to be an easy problem to solve.”

Armitage says invasive species can cause extinction of native species through direct competition, disease or indirect changes to the local ecosystem.  Some aquatic species include grass carp, tilapia, armored catfish, Australian jellyfish, pacu and zebra mussels, while invasive plants include Chinese tallow, water hyacinth, tamarix (also called salt cedar), Guinea grass and many others.

Anyone who thinks invasive species are no big deal should consider one word: kudzu.

The vine, native to Japan, has been Godzilla-like in its movements, literally blanketing much of the southern U.S. as it covers trees, shrubs, telephone poles and even buildings. Extremely difficult to control, kudzu has spread at an amazing rate the past 50 years, and it is estimated it advances an additional 150,000 acres every year. It is continuing to expand, and has already invaded east Texas and is moving westward as far west as Austin, Armitage notes. CLICK HERE TO READ MORE

Ms MILFoil - Pay for Play? What's up with that?

Ms MILFoil here… You know Bob Lake model and spokesperson.

Today, I’m taking you to Naples. No, not Naples, Florida. Naples, Maine.

Wait. Just hear me out.

I’ve had a good time in Sebago Cove, hitching rides on a lot of nice boats, spreading myself around—but hey, who can blame me?  

So what’s up with this “Pay for Play?”

If you’ve ever watched me in action, I slow down boat traffic, give a place for little fry to hide out, and give the larger fish a fighting chance by tangling angler’s fishing lines. Besides, what would the Lake Association have to talk about if I weren’t around?

So what’s up with this notion of “fighting the war?” Weren’t we just playing around?

KeepMeCurrent.com - NAPLES –Aug 23, 2011- John Balentine- As government resources dry up due to the economy, an association aiming to limit the spread of invasive milfoil on Sebago Cove in Naples is finding success with a new way of funding it is calling "Pay to Play."

Milfoil - Putting Americans to Work

Last summer, a nonprofit organization, Save Sebago Cove, spent four weeks mapping milfoil on Sebago Cove, which drains into Sebago Lake. Once it mapped the extent and varying densities of the infestation, it then timed divers as they removed a 50-foot-by-50-foot patch. With knowledge of the extent of milfoil and the rate at which it could be removed, the group was able to come up with a total cost for removing the entire infestation, about $500,000.

"'Pay to Play' is just a catchy phrase for a method of privately funding the removal of milfoil," Frick said. "What we did was start to quantify the problem so people could get their head and arms around what it was going to take to fight the war, so to speak." Click Read More

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…

Northern Snakehead wiggling it’s way to the mighty Mississippi!

Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you’ve just seen a snake! I mean a northern snakehead! Oh Carp!

You’ve just outfitted your boat with the latest netting, switched all your tackle to catch Bighead Carp, and bought the latest AMS Bowfishing Hawk bow at Cabella’s, and now you’ve just learned that Northern Snakehead are making their way to the Mississippi.

Our advice: it’s time to call in the Navy SEALs.

Don’t take this the wrong way, but you look like you’ve just seen a snake! I mean a northern snakehead! Oh Carp!

"You looking at me? I can't wait to sink my teeth
into a few Asian Carp!"

You’ve just outfitted your boat with the latest netting, switched all your tackle to catch Bighead Carp, and bought the latest AMS Bowfishing Hawk bow at Cabella’s, and now you’ve just learned that Northern Snakehead are making their way to the Mississippi.

Our advice: it’s time to call in the Navy SEALs.

TheLogCabin.Net – BRINKLEY –Aug-8-2011 — Arkansas Game and Fish Commission fisheries biologists confirmed a breeding population of northern snakehead, an invasive species from Asia, in Piney Creek system in Lee and Monroe counties in 2008. Despite an eradication program in the area, the AGFC is still getting scattered reports of fishermen catching the invasive species.

Piney Creek flows into Big Creek in Lee County, where it joins the White River to the south. The White then empties into the Mississippi River. Stopping the snakeheads before they move downstream is the goal of the AGFC.

The population was discovered when a farmer found an unusual fish wiggling along a gravel farm road near a ditch. AGFC biologists identified the fish as the invasive species. Since the confirmation, fisheries biologists have worked to establish how far the population has spread and to control the population. Click To Read More

“In football terms, here's the score: Nebraska Reservoirs 35, Zebra Mussels 0”

Way to go Nebraska! The Huskers aren't the only team that has a defense play in their back pocket. Shuck that one Zebra Mussels!

Omaha World Herald – David Hendee -July 30, 2011- After arriving uninvited last year at a suburban Omaha lake, the aquatic nuisance species hasn't shown up anywhere across Nebraska this summer. Tests conducted since May have indicated no presence of zebra mussel veligers (larvae) in Nebraska. Thirty-five reservoirs sampled as of July 15 came up clean, said Don Gabelhouse, the Nebraska Game and Parks Commission's fisheries division administrator.

That includes 255-acre Zorinsky Lake in southwest Omaha, where zebra mussels were found in November. The non-native mollusk threatens ecosystems by competing for food with native fish and causes economic harm by damaging boats and water-system pipes.

"Statewide, we're looking good,'' Gabelhouse said. "At this point, I can give you nothing but good news and a positive outlook.'' To Read More

Yum! Silver Asian Carp Cakes

When it comes to appetizers, you demand perfection.

So when you’re faced with a decision on what to prepared for your discerning guests, whether it’s a caviar flown in from Bulgaria or Foie Gras—or, most crucially, the wine for a certain significant other—you study your choices carefully, do some preliminary taste tests and then you flip through your recipe cards and you land on Asian Silver Carp Cakes!

Easy to make, delicious, and not to mention another great way to remove another Silver Carp from American waters.

What’s on your menu tonight?

Scientists race to win war on Asian carp: Pheromones, noise guns, and biobullets.

"Bighead Carp find Carp Cologne irresistible when
when spritzed on US Fish & Wildlife officers."

It’s taken a lot of research, but scientists are now working on Asian Carp Cologne laced with Pheromones (you know, just like the one that over stimulated teenage boys across America were dousing themselves with at the mall) is nearly available for carp consumption. Asian Carp will want to dab some on their fins before any impromptu leap performances, but remember: anglers should think twice about spraying this one on.

Makes us wonder if the Defense Department is taking notes?

Detroit Free Press- Tina Lam - July 22, 2011 - Across the country, scientists in laboratories are dreaming up novel ways to kill and repel Asian carp.

Super-oxygenate the water they live in so they die. Create nanoparticles filled with poison to specifically target Asian carp. Invent curtains of effervescent bubbles and annoying sounds to drive them away. Manipulate their genes so their offspring are sterile.

These and other scientific controls are on the drawing board and, in some cases, close to reality.

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. -- Late at night this spring, Reuben Goforth was working in his garage, building a contraption to zap fish eggs with electricity.

"It'd be like sticking your finger in a light socket," he said.

If his invention works, he said, he hopes to be able to disrupt the development of Asian carp eggs and larvae in spawning areas by using jolts of electricity fired from a backpack ray gun. It would be like an electrical barrier, but portable.

Goforth, a professor at Purdue University, is one of about 60 scientists in government and university laboratories across the country working hard to find ways to control bighead and silver carp. They are investigating poisons, water guns, genetic modifications and sexual attractants -- called pheromones -- that could kill, stun or even herd the fish to places where they would be easier to kill.

"Yeah, the next thing you know, they'll try shipping
us to the moon. What the heck?"

It may not equal the race to put a man on the moon, but "it's a significant effort," said Leon Carl, director of the U.S. Geological Survey's Great Lakes Science Center, which is coordinating the scientific work on Asian carp.

The scientists said they believe they will prevail against the fish. Click To Read More