So you're afraid of spiders? Arachnophobiacs might want to keep a safe distance from the Great Salt Lake these days.
Thousands of spiders of different sizes and colors have invaded the marina, feasting on the abundance of brine flies. "We've always had spiders here. Just this year they seem a little worse than others," said John Malmborg, superintendent of the Great Salt Lake State Park.The spider, of the variety called orb weavers, is about the size of a quarter, and its bite is about the same intensity as a bee sting. The latter characteristic has made the creature unpopular among the hundreds of boaters who use the marina.
"You can't walk anywhere, you can't sit down, you can't do anything," said one angry boater, who asked not to be identified. "There are spiders crawling out of everywhere."
Malmborg has tried to calm fears at the marina, but he admits there is a tremendous diversity of opinion among boaters as to what to do about the problem. Some chemical control methods have been implemented, with seemingly little impact on overall numbers.
"We are doing what we can," Malmborg said. "But we need certain wind conditions and certain cool temperatures for the fog (insect spray) to work properly. And individual boaters are using home products to control them."
Some boaters are more understanding of this quirk of nature than others. Others are extremely vocal about wanting to eradicate the spiders from the marina. Most are wary of pesticides.
"There are 300 boats here and 300 different personalities when it comes to the issue of pesticides. Trying to please all of them is a difficult task," he said.
The best control for the spider population is to control the food source. But with brine flies multiplying along the Great Salt Lake shoreline, controlling the flies would prove impossible.
Malmborg added that both spiders and brine flies are native to the Great Salt Lake, with the marina environment particularly conducive to spiders. As would be expected in the natural ecology of the lake, greater number of brine flies would produce greater numbers of spiders feeding on them.
"Spiders are a part of nature. I would assume that no matter when you go in nature there are spiders," he said.
The spiders, which prefer the rock jetties and docks around the marina, have not affected the beach. Instead, it is the brine flies that are keeping visitors off the beach.
Visitation at the marina has slowed down, Malmborg said, due to the combination of hot weather, brine flies and spiders.