WDFW NEWS RELEASE
[SIZE=2]Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife
600 Capitol Way North, Olympia, WA 98501-1091
http://wdfw.wa.gov/ [/SIZE]
January 26, 2010
Contact: Sgt. Eric Anderson, WDFW (360) 902-2426
Michael Boska, Kittitas County Prosecutor?s Office, (509) 962-7064
issued in zebra mussel case
OLYMPIA - An arrest warrant has been issued for a commercial trucker from Michigan charged with transporting invasive zebra mussels into Washington state aboard a 50-foot cabin cruiser.
David Derderian, 44, of Fraser, Michigan, was charged in Kittitas County Lower District Court last November with unlawful transportation of a deleterious exotic species and making false statements to law enforcement officers.
The court issued a warrant for Derderian?s arrest when he failed to appear for his arraignment Jan. 13, said Michael Boska, deputy prosecutor for Kittitas County.
“We appreciate the court?s help on this case,” said Bruce Bjork, chief of enforcement for the Washington Department of Fish and Wildlife (WDFW), which sought the initial charges against Derderian. “We need to do everything we can to keep zebra mussels and other invasive species out of this state.”
Zebra mussels are small, freshwater mollusks that can quickly infest lakes and rivers, threatening native fish species and public water systems, Bjork said. Since the 1980s, when zebra mussels entered the Great Lakes in ships? ballast water, they have spread to more than 20 states, including Michigan.
The invasive mussels often spread by attaching themselves to boats and trailers. Washington state law prohibits the transportation of aquatic invasive species on boats or trailers and allows state authorities to stop them for inspection.
The charges against Derderian stem from the delivery of a Sea Ray cabin cruiser from Lake Michigan to Washington. Derderian was hauling the boat when he was stopped Nov. 14 by the Washington State Patrol at the Cle Elum truck scale on Interstate 90.
State Patrol commercial vehicle officers found zebra mussels on the boat and alerted WDFW, which has special equipment to decontaminate boats carrying zebra mussels. But Derderian left with the boat and continued to Blaine before the WDFW officers could arrive at the scene, according to the department?s report.
Bjork said WDFW officers later intercepted Derderian in Blaine and stopped him from launching the boat. Based on Derderian?s statements and actions, they then asked the Kittitas County Prosecutor?s Office to press charges.
WDFW has also referred the case to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and National Marine Fisheries Service for consideration of federal charges for interstate transport of the invasive mussels, which would be a violation of the Lacey Act.
“We are pressing for federal charges in this case,” Bjork said. “It?s essential that we have people?s cooperation in our efforts to keep zebra mussels and other invasive species out of Washington. Besides the risks to fish and shellfish, these invaders have already cost industry, government and private citizens billions of dollars in damage to water and hydropower facilities in this country.”
For information on zebra mussels, see http://wdfw.wa.gov/enforcement/ [FONT=arial,helvetica,sans-serif][SIZE=2]on WDFW’s website. To report zebra mussel sightings, call 1(877) WDFW-AIS. [/SIZE][/FONT]
Now that was a dumb thing for him to do—everyone in Michigan with a boat should know how to treat the hull for zebra mussels. We are told to do it if you even change lakes. I also heard that the mussels die after being out of water for a few days. Have to check with my Mich daughter that works with a power company BILL
We were really worried about Zebra Mussels in Lake Saint Clair in Michigan when I lived near the lake. We kept a stick in the water near my boat well to monitor the zebra mussel activity. For a few years that stick was covered with them then one year hardly any. Several years thereafter too. Don’t know how they are now but haven’t heard many complaints from fishing friends and family up there.
The mussels were supposed to clog the water intakes and beat out other species. What they did was clean that lake up so much that underwater weeds began to grow right up to prop height. The weeds could finally get sunlight. I’ve been gone from Michigan now for a few years but before I left I know for sure the smallmouth bass fishing was fantastic because of those mussels.
I think what may have happened is U of M finally bred the right predator for those mussels. They were working on it when I left.
They were cross breeding the Coho Salmon for it’s huge appetite,
the Walleye for its ability to see and feed at night and the musky for its strong, shell cracking jaws.
They called it a Kowalski but couldn’t teach it to swim. :mrgreen:
I can see someone being upset by government intrusion but that guy is an idiot.
I’m thankful that Tennessee has a strong population of shellcrackers.
Ed
I am glad they stopped him from launching, but that just illustrates the contradictions in our govt. They will fine a local boater, who, by the way, should know better, yet they refuse to regulate and fine the shipping companies that bring this stuff into our Great lakes in their ballast water in the first place. Zebra mussells, round gobies, water fleas, european ruffes and who knows what else have all been allowed to enter our Great Lakes, when a few simple procedures could have prevented it. And now we are threatened with these bighead carp in Illinois. I am glad they caught him, you do not want these invasives in your waters.
Jackster,
Apparently I am the first who “caught” that. My wife is still greatful for your “gentle” facial hook removal . Were it not for your skills. Kaboom (Brad) would have been ruined by the lawsuit we had planned.
Mark
LOL!!! Is Kowalski sold outside of Michigan? (I can still clearly remember the smell of the Kowalski store where my family bought all of our deli meat.)
Just can’t leave it alone can you Mark 
. I think the statute of limitations has run its course…bring Luba with you this year and I will try for a repeat performance…
Brad
Hey Brad,
I’m just sayin… Actually it’s she who “just can’t leave it alone”. A scar on MY face would go unnoticed for eons but hers lives on ( at least in her mind) 
Hey LF, a sincere apology for taking this serious thread waaayyyyy off course. I always have a 10-15% solution of bleach for soaking my boots etc before I enter ANY new stream. I also sterilize my innards with at least a 40% solution of alcohol as an added precaution. Lemme tell ya, this dude ain’t spreadin nothin.
Mark
Now this is pretty crazy to here a story from my home town, actual David Derderian I am told is from Oxford, Mich.
I am with you on the damage to our Great Lakes. We do not need these species moving out of those systems either. Read this folks:
http://www.protectyourwaters.net/hitchhikers/mollusks_zebra_mussel.php#potential
You won’t like the control elements in those western waters and I don’t care how many shell crackers you have in other states, they don’t work. These things reproduce at a prolific rate. They already inhabit most of the Great Lakes drainage and Mississippi River drainage. That’s about 1/3rd of the Continent folks.
I need to say this since I lived most of my life on connecting waters to the Great Lakes. Not all is bad with the Zebra mussels, I lived in Michigan for 40 years and spent most of my life on Lake St. Clair (connecting waters between Lake Erie and Lake Huron) and I will say the people cause more damage to our lakes then the Zebra mussels have all these years. There is one thing I can say is the Zebra mussels have clean-up our lakes, produced food for other species of fish such a perch, gills, walleye, Large and Smallmouth Bass, ETC… now ask yourself this question what has the people done to clean-up the lakes? I spent many years fishing Bass, Walleye and Salmon on Lake St. Clair and Lake Huron and I was glad to see the bottom floor of the lake instead of only seeing 6 inch down. Now there is some bad things about the mussels also but my opinion they have done more good than bad. The funny thing about this topic is the Zebra mussels are all up and down the [FONT=Verdana]Saint Lawrence Seaway to the Great lakes, like everyone knows the ocean-going vessels that travel from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great lakes brings the Zebra mussels into our waterways, so let?s prosecute ocean vessels instead of local people trying to make a living? [/FONT]
Hum well they also consume a lot of food that the fish depend on. i hope you read the paragraph on their good effects because it is definitely short term. Also in the last 20 years the concetrated efforts the states and provinces have vastly improved the ecology of the Great Lakes. The effect of the zebra muscle is not so much a direct one on fish as it is on their habitat and the economy of the lake front communities. Add in the impact of the sea lamprey, rough goby, ruffy, still too high pollution, over fishing and etc… you have a big fishery in very big trouble.
Even yellow perch populations are on the decline in some areas. If not for aggressive international stocking programs you could forget about walleye, lake trout, steel head in at least lake Erie.
Having grown up an easy drive from Lake Erie we spent a lot of time there as kids. Twenty years ago I would not have swum at Presque Isle. Today I would not have a problem with it. It wasn’t the zebra muscle that cleaned up the industrial pollution, phosphates and medical waste.
“Ecological Impacts - Zebra mussels have disrupted the traditional aquatic food chains of many inland lakes. Regardless of their size, inland lakes represent unique ecological systems. When zebra mussels enter into these fragile systems, their voracious filter feeding depletes the availability of microscopic organisms that play a critical part in each lake’s ecological food web. As a result, valued sportfish are impacted. Zebra mussels consume considerable amounts of these beneficial microscopic organisms and this creates less food for larval and juvenile fishes that support sport and commercial fisheries.”.
I have to wonder how he got to Cle Elum before being caught. There are a lot of weigh stations across the state starting at the WA/ID border. The one here at the state line is always open. The ones in ID, MT, and points farther east missed the mussels as well! All of the employees at all of the checkpoints that this clown passed through should loose their jobs! As always, Best Regards…
Every truck passing through a weigh station is not inspected. If they were, you would never get anywhere on America’s highways, nor would your meat or produce come in anything but cans. It was a stroke of fortune that he was caught at all.
And he’s lucky they didn’t charge him with some form of evasion/resisting. Certainly he was told to wait for the fish cops, but left anyway. The guy’s a jerk. I hope the feds cooperate and prosecute under the Lacey Act just due to that aggravating circumstance.
The point about invasives by sea vs. land and enforcement in theory is a good one, but when stacked up against the science doesn’t hold water in this case. ZM’s are already here. And they aren’t really a problem in the Great Lakes. They’ve actually HELPED. But they are a problem in freestone rivers, inland lakes, ponds, etc. where the micro-organic food base is radically disrupted by their introduction. Such a disruption can literally create a domino effect that destroys an entire ecosystem…all the way from the caddis fly to the brown bear! And the way ZM’s would get into those types of habitats is by LAND transfer, not by ocean-going cargo ships or cruiseliners.
The Tiger Carp is a different story altogether. And that’s an ecological catastrophy! People are dying. That’s not just about economic impact, aesthetics, recreation, or sentimentality about the value of native species. This one is on a whole different level. I’ve actually had acquaintances killed by Tiger Carp…teenagers. And they are wreaking havoc in all those other ways I listed, too. Why? Bilge tanks from ocean-going ships that are allowed to empty them in the Great Lakes.
Flyguy,
In this part of the country, these mussels are seen as a severe threat and vehicles are specifically examined for them. I don’t discount what weigh station personnel do on a regular basis or question what is hauled in trucks and how the country relies on this freight. These mussels were on a boat being transported from an area infested with the mussels, into an area that is fighting to keep them out. Vehicles like this are supposed to be thoroughly inspected to prevent “invasive species” from being brought in. If those who are supposed to do these inspections are incompetent, get rid of them.
You say that the ZM’s have helped the Great Lakes but that they are a problem “in freestone rivers, inland lakes, ponds, etc.”… What do you suppose makes up the vast majority of our waters in this part of the country? This incident was indeed a land transfer of these mussels and the legislatures in this part of the country recognize that danger. They charge the inspectors along our highways to search out and prevent this kind of transfer. My point was that not only is this truck driver a jerk, but that the people whose job it is to prevent this kind of thing, are jerks as well… They failed to do their jobs. Best Regards…
The Great Lake States fish and game depts would disagree that zebra mussels have helped the lakes. They have significantly impacted the lakes, and in Lake Erie they are suspected of contributing to a huge oxygen depleted dead zone in the central and eastern section.
So. I’ve read the bulk of the literature. I know the arguments. I have my own opinion. Gov’t agencies need enemies and causes to increase budgets. And ZM’s are a pest for property owners (people who vote and pay taxes)…especially of the industrial and public utility variety along the lakes. I have come to believe those are the big reasons why ZM’s are still decried in the Great Lakes. But the spreading of ZM’s beyond the GL’s is a huge no-no…already too late there, too. And anyplace they don’t yet exist should be doing everything that makes sense to keep them out of their inland waters.