Hope that there is hope
Paul Coxe anxiously awaits what he hopes is the final sample of pre-production. After several iterations, this should be the pouch that he has been waiting for.
Mr. Coxe is CEO and Founder of a newly-formed environmental innovation company called 060Bio. The company was formed around the nemesis that is plaguing water ways around the planet – Zebra and Quagga mussels. Originally found native to the Ukraine and Russian waters, they, like many invasive species, are transported by ship ballast to other countries, where the cargo ships simply dump the ballast water into whatever water they happen to be at port in. The first appearance of Zebra mussels was in the late 80’s in the Great Lakes, and since then they have reeked havoc upon every fresh water system they have encountered. Quagga mussels are a close cousin of the Zebra, and are found mostly in Western states. They spread so easily from lake to lake, from river to river because they are small and attach to virtually anything that enters to water. Their larvae, or veligers, are microscopic, therefore really hard to clean off a boat or water craft. Despite the millions of dollars spent on education about these pests, they have managed to infect 45 of the 50 states in the U.S…..so far. No doubt the other 5 are soon to join the club. The mussels are winning, and it is not even close.
Mr. Coxe and his associates have developed a substance that Co-Founder and Director of Marketing James Gregath says “can be considered invasive mussel “kryptonite”. “What we have here is a product that repels the mussels, drives them away from the area surrounding the pouch, and keeps them away.” By pouch, he means the current production phase QuZea is going through in Ohio. The company has decided to first build a product designed to help the marina and dock owners create a mussel-free zone where they park their boats and PWC’s.
Think of the pouch as the size of a dinner plate, consisting of a foam outer covering with a foam inner core that contains the proprietary blend of non-toxic, environmentally-friendly elements that has proven to be effective against the mussels. 060Bio is in the process of patenting the pouch.
In the mean time, they are reaching out to any and all potential customers to use the foam in trial situations to help them improve their knowledge of the effectiveness of the compound in a variety of conditions. In addition, they have contracted world-renowned third party scientific verification to help them understand the limits of the product.
“At this point, all is good. We know what we have works. We hope to be able to confirm to the world that we have an effective and relatively inexpensive invasive mussel control tool that they can easily apply to their given problem”, Mr. Coxe says, as he studies the first sample off the new cycle.
We and all the industries that are affected by the onslaught of the Zebra and Quagga mussels hope so too.