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They clog all pipes taking water from the Great Lakes, to the tune of millions, tens of millions of dollars a year, and reduce the potential of other filter fee
by redtexture 6y ago
They clog all pipes taking water from the Great Lakes, to the tune of millions, tens of millions of dollars a year, and reduce the potential of other filter feeders, native to North America, some of whom are fish.
- ErikVandeWater 6y agoI wonder what it would take to harvest Zebra mussels for something like cat food (I imagine they don't taste great). I think the shells are valuable in some respect as well. I wish there were more innovation prizes for things where there is a potential market opportunity and big positive externalities.
- giantg2 6y agoConsidering the cost for any aquatic foods, I doubt they would be cheaper than the current waste products that animal food is made from.
- katbyte 6y agoedible, but since they are so efficient at filtering water, they tend to accumulate pollutants and toxins
- paulcole 6y agoIsn’t the potential market opportunity and big positive externalities the innovation prize? If you figure out how to turn zebra mussels into cat food, you’ll be rich. Or you won’t and there was no potential marketing opportunity and the positive externalities weren’t that big.
- ErikVandeWater 6y agoWhat do you think of: https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/x-prize-challenge-seeks-new-designs-and-inspiration-clean-future-oil-spills/ https://www.popsci.com/technology/article/2011-10/x-prize-ch... Surely it would be profitable when a spill occurs for oil companies to be able to laud their cleanup efforts as the most efficient ever, in addition to benefits to the environment. Yet the X Prize appears to have found a substantially more efficient way than decades of private solutions from big companies.
- Accujack 6y agoYou'd almost need to invent a technology to efficiently separate them from their shells, not to mention harvesting them in the first place. They glue themselves to their substrate quite strongly, and my experience is that rather than pull off, any attempt to grab them instead pulls them apart. Zebra mussels (and quagga) aren't huge, either... most of the ones I see are the size of a thumbnail.