July 18, 2022
Amazonian Apple Snail Invasion Monitoring
EMS is combating the invasive Amazonian apple snail in a coastal river system, working alongside state agencies to control and eliminate the destructive mollusk.
Invasive speciesEMS is currently combating the invasive Amazonian apple snail in conjunction with state agencies in a coastal river system. The work involves a multitude of control strategies and techniques that include egg-mass destruction, hand and trap capture, and tracking/mapping of the location and spread of the destructive mollusks.
EMS uses our experience and resources to combat these types of invaders with scientific approaches that include the development of new methods to aid in control, capture, and elimination. State-of-the-art real-time data capture and mapping allows documentation of results and fosters accurate decision-making for the deployment of resources. Captured snails are bagged, frozen, and delivered to the Mississippi Department of Marine Resources (DMR) for inventory and destruction.
Control actions since May 2021
Since May of 2021, EMS crews have accomplished substantial control actions:
- Over 3,900 apple snails captured by hand
- Almost 25,000 egg masses destroyed (each cluster of eggs can include approximately 600 viable future snails)
- Over 4,200 apple snails captured by trap
- Over an approximate 20-day period recently, EMS crews removed approximately 486 pounds of mature snails from the river system (about 24 pounds per calendar day)
Field capability Field capability
The resources we deploy
The resources we deploy to combat these invasive species include:
- Survey and management-action services
- GIS mapping for data collection, archiving, and analysis
- Remote sensing of hard-to-reach or large areas
- An array of equipment including shallow-drive boats, ATVs, standard vessels, traps, and unmanned aerial vehicles with thermal cameras
- Licensed herbicide applicators and equipment to control invasive plant species
- A crew of experienced, dedicated staff — biologists, engineers, and environmental technicians — willing to go where the invasive species proliferate
Facing an invasive-species challenge?
EMS brings the crews, equipment, and data tools to control and document invasive-species work. Tell us about your site.