INVASIVE SPECIES

Starry Stonewort – it sounds pretty, even harmless, but don’t let the precious wee white flowers fool you. 

SSW is an aggressive invasive macroalgae found throughout the Great Lakes/St. Lawrence and the following lakes: Simcoe, Scugog, Sturgeon, Buckhorn, Rice, Big Cedar and Lower Stony Lake.

According to the Environment Council for Clear, Ston(e)y and White Lakes, SSW spreads easily and rapidly by the dispersal of plant fragments and bulbils (little white stars that grow on the plant like seeds) – a process accelerated when boats travel through infested areas, their propellors tearing strands of SSW and redistributing them throughout the lake.

The ecological impacts of SSW are dire, and include disruption to healthy functioning ecosystems, displacement of native aquatic plant communities, displacing habitat for fish, frogs and turtles while creating an environment in which zebra mussels thrive. It has been determined that the long-term impacts of SSW are irreversible.

The Environment Council has some suggestions to prevent the spread of Starry Stonewort:

Avoid boat travel from infested areas into non-infested areas. If you absolutely need to travel in or through an infested area, stop and lift your boat motor and remove all weeds. The weeds that you remove must be placed in a bucket and taken to dry land and disposed of away from any water.

Clean, drain and dry your boat whenever launching or trailering a boat to another lake. This will prevent the spread of SSW out of infested lakes and also prevent other new invasive species from being spread into lakes currently unaffected.

Ensure that any commercial harvester hired to remove weeds on your waterfront has a permit from Trent-Severn Waterway to remove weeds on your waterfront and is not moving in and out of SSW infested areas.

For more information about SSW and what you can do to prevent its spread go to https://www.environmentcouncil.ca/starry-stonewort