There has been reports of Salvinia washing ashore in Daphne all the way up to Meaher State Park in Spanish Fort. Salvinia is an invasive species from southern Brazil. It forms floating mats that shade and crowd out important native plants and in turn, reduces oxygen levels for other species.
While that's a concern for fresh water, one expert said there's no need to be on high alert with it showing up in the Mobile Bay.
You may remember a couple years ago when Big Creek Lake shut down in Mobile, that was because of Salvinia. The reason why experts are not so concerned with it showing up in the bay is because it's salt water, which causes Salvinia to die pretty quickly.
"It's an invasive species from Brazil that's probably been poured out for aquariums or escaped from ponds that have flooded," Carole Tebay said. "It's in Daphne and Meaher State Park, it's starting to go out from the shore, further out and shades out all the life from underneath, depletes the oxygen."
Tebay spends most of her days along the water cleaning up trash, bird watching, and now picking up Salvinia.
Tebay has visible evidence of Salvinia. However, Dr. Charlie Martin, an invasive species expert, said it's washes down in the rivers and dies when it reaches salt water environments.
"Mostly, Salvinia...because it's been here for decades and has not been a concern until it is a concern," Martin said. "For example, Big Creek Lake when populations exploded, that's when management action usually happens, and for Salvinia, it's a threat because population can double every two weeks so it can overtake an area very quickly in the right environment like fresh waters."
So why is Salvinia showing up in the bay? Martin has one possible reason.
"One of the main modes of spread for Salvinia is that it attaches itself to boat trailers, as people put their boats on the trailer and drive to another place," Martin said. "It can survive out of water for quite some time. Some studies suggested as much as year it can survive out of water."
Due to the Salvinia infestation at Big Creek Lake, once it reopened, MAWWS started requiring boaters to have a mandatory boat wash to prevent the spread of the invasive species.
Martin said Salvinia could be controlled by using herbicides, which could get expensive. He also said there's small insects called weevils that eat Salvinia.
Bottom line, he said it's not a concern right now with it showing up in the bay.