While patrolling near the dam at Lake Texoma on June 7, Grayson County Game Warden Dale Moses observed a 78-foot houseboat on a trailer at the boat ramp.
Warden Moses noticed the trailer and tractor the boat was on were licensed in Kentucky.
Moses checked the vessel, which had just come out of Texoma, and found it was infested with zebra mussels, a highly invasive species which causes millions of dollars in damage in many of the 24 states where the alien mussels have become established,
Texoma is one of two Texas waterways in which zebra mussels have been found.
Moses was able to contact the transport driver, who advised he was planning on leaving at first light the next morning, hauling the boat to Cumberland Lake in Kentucky.
Moses advised the driver that the vessel must be decontaminated before it could be moved.
The boat's owner, who lives in Kentucky, and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources were contacted.
A Kentucky warden told Moses Kentucky has found zebra mussels in the Cumberland River but none in their lakes.
A Texoma-area marina, which had portable heated power washer was contacted, came to the vessel's location and decontaminated it.
TPWD fisheries biologist Bruce Hysmith assisted Warden Moses and inspected the decontaminated vessel. The transporter was allowed to leave with the boat and instructed to contact the Kentucky game warden with whom Warden Moses had spoken before launching it in Lake Cumberland.
Kentucky Game Warden Sgt. John Anderson expressed his appreciation of the cooperation between our states in helping prevent the spread of this invasive species.
Warden Moses noticed the trailer and tractor the boat was on were licensed in Kentucky.
Moses checked the vessel, which had just come out of Texoma, and found it was infested with zebra mussels, a highly invasive species which causes millions of dollars in damage in many of the 24 states where the alien mussels have become established,
Texoma is one of two Texas waterways in which zebra mussels have been found.
Moses was able to contact the transport driver, who advised he was planning on leaving at first light the next morning, hauling the boat to Cumberland Lake in Kentucky.
Moses advised the driver that the vessel must be decontaminated before it could be moved.
The boat's owner, who lives in Kentucky, and the Kentucky Department of Fish and Wildlife Resources were contacted.
A Kentucky warden told Moses Kentucky has found zebra mussels in the Cumberland River but none in their lakes.
A Texoma-area marina, which had portable heated power washer was contacted, came to the vessel's location and decontaminated it.
TPWD fisheries biologist Bruce Hysmith assisted Warden Moses and inspected the decontaminated vessel. The transporter was allowed to leave with the boat and instructed to contact the Kentucky game warden with whom Warden Moses had spoken before launching it in Lake Cumberland.
Kentucky Game Warden Sgt. John Anderson expressed his appreciation of the cooperation between our states in helping prevent the spread of this invasive species.