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Q&A: Jennifer Nalbone on Great Lakes
Updated: 04/01/07 7:38 AM
Jennifer Nalbone is campaign director for the Great Lakes United coalition. She focuses on aquatic invasive species, especially in ballast water, as well as binational coordination between the United States and Canada on preventive measures. She discussed the economics of species invasions in the Great Lakes.
Q: How large an economic threat do aquatic invasive species pose to the Great Lakes?
A: Aquatic invasive species are enemy number one for the Great Lakes. The $4 billion Great Lakes fishery is suffering because of invasions. For example, zebra and quagga mussels are ruthlessly efficient filter-feeders and are starving out a native shrimp-like invertebrate which is the primary food source for many popular fish like whitefish, salmon and trout.
Zebra mussels also have an impact on municipalities and industries around the Great Lakes because they clog intakes for drinking water and power plants, and damage boat motors,
docks and buoys. Estimates of the cumulative cost of zebra mussels since 1988 range from $3 billion to $7.5 billion for the Great Lakes. Further damage to the Great Lakes region is expected to run around $500 million a year. Zebra and quagga mussels arrived after the St. Lawrence Seaway allowed large ocean-going vessels entry into the lakes; these and many other invaders hitchhiked across the ocean in the vessels’ ballast water tanks.
Q: Do Canada and the United States have effective programs?
A: Both countries have federal laws that begin to address aquatic invasions caused by shipping. However, a simple mark of good legislation is whether the law has fixed the problem. Unfortunately, current regulations have not made a dent in the number, or rate, of invasions coming from ballast water.
It’s broadly held that federal regulations need to be improved. Right now in the United States, ocean vessels coming to the country must exchange their ballast water in the open ocean. That is a good start, but what Congress, states, public interest groups and the industry all want is a new law which would require ships to meet a ballast water discharge standard that would ensure the invasions would stop. Some Great Lakes states, like Michigan, are so frustrated with the slow pace of the federal legislative process they have begun to take the matter in their own hands and have put in place state laws regulating ballast water discharges. Q: Can other action be taken?
A: Congress is currently considering a National Aquatic Invasive Species Act, which would set a protective ballast water discharge standard that the shipping industry would be required to meet. This new law would dramatically improve regulations for ocean vessels coming into the Great Lakes. The bill also takes a comprehensive approach to preventing and controlling invaders by addressing other pathways for introduction besides international shipping.
Ocean-going vessels make up a small percentage of total tonnage moved on the lakes. It’s important to realize that Great Lakes taxpayers are shouldering the burden of invasive species brought in by a handful of ocean vessels. A key issue that needs to be debated across the region is: Should there be a temporary moratorium on oceanvessel access into the Great Lakes, and use of transportation alternatives such as rail or lake vessel, until protective ballast water regulations are enforced in the United States and Canada?
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