Quagga mussels are an invasive species to Utah waters. They are notorious for plugging water lines, even those that are large in diameter, remove plankton( a huge source of food for the local fish) from the water, and damaging boat engines when they get into the cooling system. For this reason, the Utah Division of Wildlife Resources works hard to prevent mussels from spreading. Over Memorial Day Weekend, DWR technicians inspected 11,403 boats in Utah and performed 171 decontaminations. There was generally a lower amount of boaters on Utah waters than from past Memorial Day Weekends, but it allowed the DWR to really see how efficient and helpful new decontamination systems are. There are 40 inspection stations throughout the state with the Uintah Basin having eight stations: one at Starvation, one at Pelican Lake, two at Steinaker, one at Red Fleet and two at Flaming Gorge.
