The mayor of Kamloops spent his Wednesday in Salmon Arm to discuss the threat of invasive mussels.

Ken Christian says on the agenda of the Shuswap Watershed Coalition meeting is water quality in nearby lakes and the threat posed to the interior by invasive zebra and quagga mussels.

Christian says invasive mussels have wreaked havoc in eastern Canada and that is something the interior desperately wants to avoid.

“There is tremendous effort out in the Shuswap as well as in the Okanagan. If we were to have a zebra mussel infestation in British Columbia, which we don’t at this point in time, but if we were it would make a huge impact on our tourism particularly boating and lake front tourism.”

The B.C. government recently dedicated funding to the Invasive Mussel Defence Program which screens boats on highways into the interior for any sign of invasive mussels.