Golden mussels are small with slightly yellow shells. They arrived in North America in 2024, hitchhiking via boat from China to the Port of Stockton. Just one mussel can produce a million offspring in a year.
"And so our hundred million dollar floodgate took ten hours to clean and ten thousand dollars, and so if we're having a flood issue and need to clean the gate before we can close it to save the communities, it's kind of getting out of control," said San Joaquin County Supervisor Paul Canepa.
Because they’re such efficient filter-feeders, golden mussels outcompete other species—such as the endangered delta smelt—for food. Their numbers threaten the balance of the San Joaquin delta’s ecosystem.
The delta is a source of drinking water to 27 million Californians, and helps irrigate hundreds of thousands of acres of agricultural land in the Central Valley and southern California.
The Board is asking the state to fund decontamination centers for boats. They’re also lobbying to pass an assembly bill that would empower local water agencies to act more quickly.
