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This article was published 19/10/2016 (1434 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The Pallister government missed the boat in its information war against zebra mussels by leaving more than $90,000 of its advertising unspent during the height of the boating season, the Free Press has learned.

A freedom of information request filed by the Free Press revealed the only dollars spent on advertising since the election has been a $38,000 radio ad campaign and $1,000 in print ads. As part of its $700,000 budget for the zebra mussel-fighting program, $130,000 was supposed to be allocated for public awareness.

MANITOBA CONSERVATION AND WATER STEWARDSHIP A thick coating of Zebra mussels on a sampler (trap) removed from Gimli Harbour last year.

The news comes after the government boasted to the Free Press in July its zebra mussel program was a "four-fold increase over what was budgeted in 2015 by the NDP, when $168,000 was set aside to address zebra mussels." Actually, the former Selinger government spent $450,000 in 2015/16 on the program, and a spokesman for the government confirmed almost $100,000 of that went to advertising.

Sustainable Development Minister Cathy Cox was quick to point out the year isn't over, meaning the province has until the end of the fiscal year in March to ramp up its public awareness spending.

"Obviously there is a period of time next year that we will be able to spend, but we are results focused. So we are looking at increasing communications in different ways," Cox said Wednesday.

She boasted that literature is being handed out to people when they come into provincial parks and social media have been used heavily to spread the word.

"I think we've done a really good job with the social media. The younger generation doesn't read a lot of print. And I have tweeted on my own site the importance of 'Clean, drain, dry and dispose,'" Cox said, quoting the message being sent to boaters to prevent their spread. "Perhaps there are other options we can look at."

The invasive species was first reported in Lake Winnipeg in 2013. It was later found in the Red River in June 2015 and in Cedar Lake the following October.

Earlier this month, the Free Press reported an invasion of the molluscs at Island Beach — a cottage development just north of Beaconia Beach. Residents in the area reported thousands were washing up on the shoreline. Zebra mussels are a barnacle-like shellfish that are usually smaller than an 2.5 centimetres in length.

Cox admits they were late starting their prevention program, which only began in early July when five decontamination units were placed at key points in Lake Winnipeg and Red River. It was a delay she attributed to her government being sworn in in May following its victory in the April 19 provincial election.

"We are going to be out there very early, full tilt (next year). We are going to make sure we are out there when the boats get on the water and people are fishing," Cox said.

Biologist Eva Pip from the University of Winnipeg said the war on zebra mussels has already been lost in Manitoba and decontamination efforts are futile. She said the government's efforts should focus on education and awareness.

Pip said she was shocked when she visited Lake Winnipeg last month for research and found many people using the lake had no idea what a zebra mussel was or looked like.

"We have to be in the schools, we have to have a lot of community advertising, newspapers, more TV exposure, social media," she said. "Even those mobile washing stations, they get only a small fracture. So if we have the public themselves doing the policing, then you multiply the effectiveness of your program. We are beyond the stage where we should be spending the money on eradicating them locally because that is fruitless."

Not controlling the spread of zebra mussels into other lakes could cost the province billions, Pip said. The mussels can damage hydro infrastructure, hurt property values and interfere with communities that have drinking water around the Lake Winnipeg basin.

"It is a huge domino effect," she said.

The provincial government was unable to provide a breakdown of what has been spent so far of the $700,000 budgeted to combat zebra mussels.

A breakdown given in July explained the lion’s share of the money, about $500,000, was budgeted for decontamination units, while the remaining funds were for public awareness ($130,000), monitoring and research ($30,000) and enforcement ($25,000).

A three-page email from government spokesman Kalen Qually noted launch signs have been distributed throughout the regions of the province, staff have been distributing information, 500 posters were given to vendors who sell fishing and other licences, and six print ads were placed, along with public presentations.

Rob Altemeyer, the NDP critic for sustainable development, laughed at the idea the government would do any public awareness campaigns this late in the season. He defended his government's $100,000 spent on advertising, arguing it was money well spent.

"I don't know how many Manitobans you'd have to survey to find out there isn't a lot of boating happening once winter comes," said the MLA for Wolseley. "The experts I talked to agree that public education is the best tool now that the zebra mussels are here. We have to prevent them from reaching any additional watersheds."

Altemeyer's government famously spent $500,000 in 2014 on a failed plan to use potash to sterilize four key harbours — Gimli Harbour, Boundary Creek Marina/Winnipeg Beach Harbour and Balsam Bay Harbour. After the potash mission was initially declared a success, zebra mussels were rediscovered and have since spread.

kristin.annable@freepress.mb.ca