Invasive Mussels in Lake Superior

[Tamara Thomsen]

Sorry to see them make their way to the park.  I knew that Duluth has had evidence of zebra mussels for several years now.  A few weeks ago, Keith and I were up surveying the scow May Flower a few miles out of the Duluth Entry for GLSPS- which means spending about 2-3 hours a day on the wreck and I happened to run into a handful of mussels - fortunately not many yet.  I can tell you though, it was sure nice to do an archaeological survey where you can see the edges of the wreck parts- makes exact measuring easy!

I was up on a North Shore cruise a few years ago to shoot photos for Steve Daniel's book on the wrecks there and when we were diving the Thomas Wilson, I was sure that I was going to see a few mussels, I didn't notice them then.  I see now that GLSPS has started a zebra mussel monitoring project on the Wilson.  I believe that volunteers were scheduled to be out on the Wilson just last weekend.

If anyone is intersted in helping out with the monitoring of the wrecks on the North Shore, I know that GLSPS takes volunteer divers for projects such as these.  Check out for more information!