6 THE SUN|NEWS |SUNDAY,DECEMBER 8, 2019 NATION & WORLD N.J. town manages to muscle out giant invasive mussels By Wayne Parry Associated Press

FRANKLIN TOWN- SHIP, N.J. — Most Ameri- cans know mussels as thumb-sized shellfish that occasionally adorn restau- rant dinner plates. But a colony of mussels as big as dinner plates has recently been wiped out from a pond, where they had threatened to spread to the nearby Delaware River and wreak WAYNE PARRY/AP ecological havoc, as they Wildlife officials hold dead Chinese pond mussels found in RICK BOWMER/AP already are doing in other a network of ponds in Franklin Township, N.J. Supporters of the Equal Rights Amendment rally recently at the Utah State Capitol. parts of the world. Federal wildlife officials flows into the Delaware They can live 12 to 14 years. and a New Jersey conser- River. Infestations have been Push to ratify ERA launched vation group say they’re Had the mussels spread found in the Czech Repub- confident they have nar- there, they could wipe out lic, Italy, France, Austria, rowly avoided a serious not only native shellfish, Belgium, Bulgaria, Ger- in Utah despite opposition environmental problem by but also harm river bottom many, Hungary, Poland, eradicating Chinese pond conditions upon which Romania, Spain, Slovenia, By Lindsay constitution that guaran- ue our women,” Kwan said mussels from a former fish commercially and recre- Sweden and Ukraine. They Whitehurst tees equal “civil, political following a launch event farm in Hunterdon . ationally important fish de- also have turned up in and Sarah Rankin and religious rights.” that drew 200 supporters. The mussels, in larvae pend, including shad and Costa Rica, the Dominican Associated Press Kwan is sponsoring a bill About 40 people came form, hitched a ride to this sturgeon. Republic and the Phil- for the 2020 legislative out to protest the launch, country inside the gills of The infestation was the ippines. SALT LAKE CITY —A session that she hopes will saying the ERA language is Asian carp that were im- first in North America, ac- Eradicating them has AIMS Main News/A006/Generic Non Discriminatory policy renewed national push to make Utah the 38th state to too broad and could erode ported for the Huey Prop- cording to the U.S. Fish & proven much trickier be- ratify the Equal Rights ratify the ERA. That’s a key protections for women and erty in Franklin Township Wildlife Service, which cause lowering water levels Amendment has come to number that would meet girls such as workplace and quickly began repro- partnered with the New is either impossible or im- conservative Utah, where the constitutional thresh- accommodations during ducing. Unlike the mussels Jersey group on a plan to practical without killing supporters have launched a old for approval if other pregnancies. many Americans know, eradicate them. virtually everything in a long-shot bid to become challenges can be over- Art student Amanda these ones can approach First, the water levels river. Ditto for applying the tipping point state, de- come. Fisher, 23, said she’s wor- the size of footballs. were lowered in the ponds, chemicals to kill the mus- spite opposition from the , however, could ried it could result in fewer Their size and appetite killing the fish in them, sels, particularly in fast- influential Church of Jesus get there first after Demo- restrictions on abortions. enable them to out-com- which also included some flowing waterways. Christ of Latter-day Saints. crats won control of the “It kind of seems to be a pete native species for food invasive bighead carp, Several European scien- Utah is one of several Legislature this year for the cover to really make it hard and space. In many spots in themselves a potentially se- tists and researchers said conservative-leaning states first time in a generation. to protect unborn chil- Europe, the Chinese mus- rious environmental prob- they knew of no sustained where supporters hope to In addition, supporters dren,” she said. sels have taken over water- lem if they had escaped into efforts to eradicate the Chi- make inroads regarding the are weighing new pitches ERA supporters say it ways and pushed out not nearby waterways. nese mussels from water- amendment that would ex- in states such as Georgia, isn’t about abortion, and only native shellfish Then a copper-based al- ways there, saying the plicitly enshrine equality North Carolina, Arizona laws that protect women species, but also have al- gae killer that also kills problem has already be- for women in the U.S. and Florida, said Carol aren’t under threat. They tered river bottom condi- mollusks was introduced to come too big to solve in Constitution. Jenkins, co-president and point out that Utah’s own tions, harming or chasing the muddy bottoms. Beth some places. That is due

Client Name: Advertiser: Section/Page/Zone: Description: ERA opponents in Utah CEO of the nationwide equal rights clause didn’t away some species of fish. Freiday, of the wildlife mainly to their widespread turned out with signs and ERA Coalition. prevent the state from pass- “They can become a service, said officials are distribution and the im- chants at a rally announc- However, even if more ing new abortion restric- huge ecological night- confident all the mussels practicality of treating an ing the effort, and leaders of states join the effort, chal- tions this year. mare,” said Emile DeVito, were killed, although DNA entire river with chemicals. the state’s predominant lenges would remain for The opposition from manager of science for the testing is planned for next That’s why wildlife offi- faith, often known as the the ERA, including a 1982 The Church of Jesus Christ New Jersey Conservation spring or summer to verify cials in New Jersey were so Mormon church, reaf- ratification deadline previ- of Latter-day Saints, mean- Foundation. His group that. happy to nip their own firmed its more-than three ously set by Congress and a while, could prove formi- bought the land from pri- Dozens of giant black mussel problem in the bud decades of opposition. move by five states to with- dable since the vast major- vate owners in 2007 and shells from dead mussels while they still could. Democratic state Rep. draw support. ity of Utah lawmakers are preserved it as open space. were plucked from the “Under certain condi- Karen Kwan was unde- In Utah, Kwan said that members. The faith said Three years later, the mud, giving officials a tions, this invasive species terred in her support of the ratification would be decades ago that the ERA presence of the Chinese glimpse of just how large could have spread across amendment. She’s aiming worthwhile, even if the could erode family values, mussels was discovered, the invasive shellfish grow. the eastern U.S., with New to convince her GOP col- state isn’t No. 38. and its members worked causing great alarm. The They come from the Jersey at the epicenter,” leagues in the Legislature “It’s about sending that against the amendment in nine deep ponds are at the Amur and Yangtze rivers in said Eric Schrading, the by pointing to an 1895 message of love and respect states such as Virginia, headwaters of the Wick- China, and in some places wildlife service’s New Jer- amendment to the state (about) how much we val- Florida and Missouri. echeoke Creek, which are used to cultivate pearls. sey field office supervisor. 6526170-1 2 x 6.7 B&W Central Air NOTICE of NONDISCRIMINATORYPOLICY as to STUDENTS Aidan Montessori School Green Acres School Radcliffe Creek School Archbishop Spalding High School TheGreenMount School TheRiver School Baltimore Lab School Greenspring Montessori School Rochambeau-The French Barnesville School of Arts &Sciences TheGunstonSchool International School Conditioning TheHarborSchool Roland Park CountrySchool Harford DaySchool Beauvoir,The National Cathedral Saint Andrew’sUnited Methodist TheHighlands School DaySchool ElementarySchool Holton-Arms School Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School Saint JamesSchool Holy Trinity Episcopal DaySchool Sandy Spring FriendsSchool TheBoys’ Latin School of Indian CreekSchool Even forhomes Seneca Academy TheBrynMawrSchool SevernSchool Jemicy School Sheridan School with hot water CalvertHall CollegeHigh School TheJohn Carroll School Kent School Sidwell FriendsSchool CalvertSchool Sisters AcademyofBaltimore Ad Number: Insertion Number: Size: Color Type: TheCalverton School TheKey School or steam Krieger Schechter DaySchool St. Albans School CambridgeSchool TheLab School of Washington St. Andrew’sEpiscopal School Capitol Hill DaySchool St. Anne’sSchool of Annapolis radiator heat! 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