Bleach set to eradicate Germantown's invasive crayfish

Germantown - Louisiana red swamp crayfish lurking in a village pond will be drinking Wisconsin
bleach this week in a continuing battle between the invasive species and state environmental officials.

Bleach poured into the storm-water pond and a smaller nearby pond should kill the rapidly
reproducing intruders there, even as the state Department of Natural Resources prepares to take on a
second infestation of the large crayfish in Wisconsin, said Randy Schumacher, DNR regional fisheries
coordinator in Milwaukee.

The nuisance intruders were discovered recently in an urban fishing pond at Sam Poerio Park in
Kenosha, and a fabric fence has been erected along the shoreline to prevent the aliens from crawling
to other nearby water bodies, Schumacher said.

The DNR's first priority is eradicating the invasive crayfish in Germantown.

On Thursday or Friday, nearly 4,000 gallons of bleach will be poured into the Esquire Estates
subdivision pond off Western Ave. to kill any of the Gulf Coast crayfish that have evaded traps, he
said. The chemical will kill minnows and other aquatic life that might be in the pond, which is not a
natural lake.

This invasive species of crayfish - much larger and more aggressive than native crayfish - was
released illegally into the pond earlier this year, Schumacher said. The big crustaceans grow up to 8
inches long, and they would replace the locals quickly.

Investigators have not determined who released the aliens or why, Schumacher said. The crayfish
might have been tossed into the pond by someone who ordered too many for a Cajun-style meal or
purchased them for pets.

"No one should be releasing any animal outdoors without a permit from the DNR," he said.

State officials became aware of the Germantown infestation - the first time the species has been
documented in Wisconsin - after subdivision residents reported the crayfish crawling over lawns in late
August. Those residents say they had not seen the crayfish before July of this year.

More than 2,000 have been removed after they were captured in traps baited with beef liver, said
Jamie Lambert, a DNR water resources specialist. Lambert and two other DNR workers removed 87
red swamp crayfish from traps on Thursday.

At least 120 traps have been placed along the pond shoreline and the shore of a small island in the
pond, Lambert said.

Some of the females are releasing eggs, and Schumacher confirmed the prolific alien is reproducing in
Germantown.

Red swamp crayfish burrow into mud on the pond bottom and could spend the winter. For that reason,
the DNR received the authority to pour sodium hypochlorite - bleach, in this case made by Hydrite
Chemical Co. of Brookfield - into the pond and a second, smaller storm-water pond on the opposite
side of Western Ave., south of the Village Police Department. The two ponds are connected by a
drainage ditch.

On the day the work is done, a tanker truck will park on Western Ave. and the DNR will employ three
boats - two that will move around the Esquire Estates pond, injecting a bleach solution below the
surface, and a third that will inject a more concentrated solution directly into crayfish burrows.

A total of 3,740 gallons of bleach mixed with water will be poured into the Esquire pond. An additional
70 gallons of the bleach solution will be poured into the pond at the Police Department.

This battle, though small in scale, is frustrating and time consuming to deal with, Schumacher said.

The state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will accept public comments on
the bleach treatment until Tuesday. A special pesticide notification proposed by the agriculture
Bleach set to eradicate Germantown's invasive crayfish
department authorizes the DNR to use higher concentrations of bleach in the pond than the rate
recommended on the product label.