Thursday June 4, 2026
The Sacramento Bee —
Lake Tahoe inspectors stopped a watercraft carrying invasive golden mussels from entering the lake last week, their second such stop since the mollusk was first discovered in California waters in 2024.
Officials earlier this week in Meyers spotted four of the invasive species aboard a craft during an aquatic invasive species inspection, officials with the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency said Wednesday in a news release. That craft is now under watch of California Department of Fish and Wildlife.
The vessel was arriving from the Sacramento area, said agency officials. The first sightings of golden mussels in North America were in the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta near the Port of Stockton in 2024. California Fish and Game commissioners quickly placed the species on the state’s restricted list, citing its immediate threat to ecological health of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta, and California waterways.
Authorities have intercepted four boats already this season with invasive mussels onboard — three with zebra mussels that have been spreading around the U.S. since the 2000s, and one with golden mussels.