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Aquatic Invasive Species: Final Comments

Aquatic Invasive Species
 
Introduction
The Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River are now home to at least 186 nonnative aquatic species. Of these, the aquatic invasive species (AIS) have radically altered the lakes’ and St. Lawrence River biological systems and water quality, and caused severe economic damage. The 2005 “tipping point” paper signed by more than 100 prominent Great Lakes scientists points out, “Invasive species are the most likely principal source of food web disruptions now occurring in the Great Lakes, and are implicated in the reproductive failures of some fish species,” including walleye, lake trout, yellow perch, and lake herring.
 
Moreover, invasive species have been responsible for billions of dollars cumulatively, in water utility infrastructure maintenance and repair and hundreds of millions of dollars annually in public investments in control programs.
 
In recent years, zebra and quagga mussels have played a significant role in radically altering the ecological balance of the lakes. These species are efficient “filter feeders” that strip the waters of the plankton upon which native species depend. Lake Erie has been particularly affected; the mussels, in combination with the round goby, are implicated in outbreaks of botulism among the lake’s fish and birds - compromising the region’s water quality.
 
Inadequate controls
In 2002, reports from the United States and Canada found, among other things, that:
  • The federal governments of Canada and the United States have not responded effectively to the invasive species threat;
  • Measures put into place to prevent aquatic introductions have not prevented new introductions;
  • Canada and the United States have neither a binational approach to invasive species nor do they have a single agency in charge of managing the problem.
 
We have no choice but to manage the aquatic invasive species already in the Great Lakes system, but failing to prevent new invasions is sheer folly. Biological pollution may be the most serious threat to the Great Lakes ecosystem today, and thus requires priority attention and a commitment by both nations.
 
The four major pathways of invasion are well known:
  •  Commercial Shipping: AIS introductions from global waters carried in the ballast water or fouling the hulls and anchors of ocean-going ships that trade in international ports. Transfers of AIS from port to port within the lake system can also be facilitated in the ballast water of “lakers,” ships that travel only around the Great Lakes;
     
  • Artificial Canals and Waterways: AIS migration into the Great Lakes from channels connected to other watersheds such as the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal; and
  • Importation for Trade: Commercial trade of species for aquariums, aquatic gardening, etc results in hundreds of millions of live wild plants and animals arriving in North America each year, some of them harmful non-native species, which are often intentionally released or escape into the wild.
  • Recreational Activity: Boaters and anglers can inadvertently transport invasive species from an infested waterbody to an uninfested waterbody.
New prevention and control programs must address each of these vectors.
 
Recommendations
Overall:
  • Recommend development of a separate annex for Aquatic Invasive Species in the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement. This annex must set specific goals and timelines to prevent the introduction and spread of Aquatic Invasive Species in the Great Lakes –St. Lawrence River basin.
  • For preventive policies dealing with unintentional introductions via pathways such as shipping, canals and waterways, the potential future invaders may be predicted, but are also often a mystery. Under these scenarios, the precautionary principle and zero discharge should be the basis for policy development. For intentional introductions via the importation pathway, the potential future invader is often a known species destined for a market. Under this scenario, policies that emphasize risk assessment and risk-based management approach on individual species should be pursued.
 
Preventing AIS introductions via Ocean-going Vessels
Declare as a goal of the Agreement:
  • Complete prevention of the introduction of any additional non-native aquatic species to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system via ocean-going vessels through adoption of a zero discharge goal.
     
  • Binationally coordinated federal policies to meet the above goal no later than 2016.
  • Binationally coordinated federal policies applying to the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence River system to achieve the above goal, which could require: 1) sufficiently strict ballast water discharge standards to achieve the above goal, or 2) closure to ocean-going vessels of the Great Lakes – St. Lawrence Seaway System. Regional goals should be set in the event that national standards fail to be set in a timely fashion or prove too lax for meeting the goals of the Great Lakes region.
  • Identification and protection of unique and largely pristine shorelines and waters (for example, such areas may include Isle Royale and the northeast shore of Lake Superior) through a moratorium on ballast water release until 2016, or which time regulations are implemented to prevent the introduction of AIS from commercial vessels.
 
Preventing the Spread of Already-introduced AIS by Lakers
Declare as a goal of the Agreement:
  • Complete prevention of movement of already-introduced aquatic invasive species to new sites in the Great Lakes by “lakers”—ships that travel solely around the Great Lakes.
 
  • Binationally coordinated federal policies implemented no later than 2016 that assure that “lakers” do not transport AIS to Basin sites where they are not already established.
 
Preventing AIS introductions via Inter-Basin Connections
Declare as a goal of the Agreement:
  • Complete prevention of the movement of live organisms via canals and other artificial inter-Basin waterways that connect the Great Lakes Basin to a non-Great Lakes watershed. Artificial connections include, but are not limited to, Ogoki and Long Lac in northern Ontario, Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal in Illinois and associated Indiana waterways, New York State Canal System, the Portage Canal in Wisconsin, and the Ohio and Erie and Miami and Erie canals in Ohio.
  • Complete prevention of intra-basin movement of AIS through artificial connections of hydrologically distinct waterbodies, such as the connection between Lake Ontario and the upper lakes via the Welland Canal.
 
Declare as objectives of the Agreement:
  • Establishment of binational responsibility for and oversight of aspects of inter-Basin connections that pertain to AIS introduction.
  • Permanent hydrological separation of the Great Lakes and Mississippi River Basins and other pertinent inter-Basin connections.
  • No construction of new inter-Basin connections and the closure of existing cross-Basin connections that have fallen into disrepair or disuse so that AIS transfers are no longer possible.
 
 
Preventing AIS introduction via trade in Live Organisms
Declare as a goal of the Agreement:
  • Complete prevention of AIS introduction through international and domestic trade in and possible release of live non-native organisms.
Declare as an objective of the Agreement:
  • Establishment of a binational screening process at the federal level related to live organisms in trade that classifies such organisms into three categories of injuriousness—prohibited, permitted, and conditionally permitted—with the burden of proof as to injuriousness placed on the prospective trader.
 
Preventing AIS introduction or spread by recreational activity
Declare as a goal of the Agreement:
  • Long-term financial commitment to recreational education and outreach programs that aim to prevent the transfer of invasive species.
 
Integrating into the Agreement prevention of AIS introduction and spread
  • Include in Article 2 purpose and Article 3 objectives of the Agreement, the need for prevention of AIS introduction and spread.
     
  • Include the need for AIS research in Annex 17, integrating the recommendations from, among other sources, the Research Coordination Committee of the Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species.
  • Include in Annex 11 the need for AIS surveillance and monitoring, and regular reporting of this information to the public every 2 years.
     
  • Ensure regular status updates of government AIS prevention programs every 2 years.

 

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