Sandusky Register:
http://www.sanduskyregister.com/articles/2009/02/05/viewpoints/reader_forum/1133772.txt
SanduskyRegister.com Viewpoints Article
LOCAL VOICES: New law needed to stem lake invasions
Thursday, February 5, 2009 4:36 AM EST
Rick Graham
Izaak Walton League of America
Ohio Division President
The greatest threat to the Great Lakes is aquatic invasive species coming to the region in ballast water from ocean going vessels. To date, more than 185 aquatic invasive species can be directly attributed to this cause, and the biological invaders' economic cost has been estimated at $5.7 billion per year. Thirteen species of aquatic invaders have been identified in the Great Lakes, but a recent report from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency lists 58 additional species that have medium to high risk of becoming established in the Great Lakes and pose a threat to the ecosystem.
The report states Toledo, Sandusky and Ashtabula are the most at risk of any ports on the Great Lakes for future invasions. This is bad news for the Western Basin of Lake Erie, which is already struggling with declining populations of yellow perch and walleye that play an important role in our local and state economies. The Ohio Division of Wildlife lowered the catch limit for Western Basin on yellow perch last year from 30 to 25 because of declining fish populations. It also eliminated the commercial fishing for yellow perch in the Western Basin.
Several of the established invaders are well-known: The zebra and quagga mussels are substantially eliminating, through their filtering of the water, much of the microscopic life that is the primary food source for the fish that walleye, yellow perch, and bass eat. The round goby feeds on game fish food sources as well as their young. The threat of viral hemorrhagic septicemia, which is also traceable to ballast water, has created numerous fish kills in the Western Basin and other regions of the Great Lakes, except for Lake Superior -- so far.
Lake Erie travel and tourism contributes over $9.45 billion to Ohio's economy with fishermen contributing over $900 million. The lake provides the drinking water to more than 3 million Ohioans. Many of Ohio's larger water users, which includes most of the larger cities in along Lake Erie, spend $350,000-$400,000 a year clearing mussels from their water intakes.
How can we combat this problem?
Ocean vessels carry either water ballast or residual materials in their ballast tanks. Ships carrying ballast water can can carry any number of living organisms that can be picked up anywhere in their travels around the world. It is hard to say what organism can or cannot become invasive, so we must treat all of their ballast water accordingly.
Ships carrying residual materials can claim they have no ballast on board as the weight of their cargo is usually enough to maintain the stability of the ship. It has been determined that most ships contain an average of 42,000 gallons of water after they have off loaded their ballast water. These ship do take on ballast from time to time as they travel the within the Great Lakes and unload their cargos to maintain the ships stability. In taking on ballast at any point in their travels, they can bring aboard any number of living organisms that can remain in their hold and ballast tanks after their ballast is discharged. The taking on of ballast water which is brought into contact with the residual material can provide an opportunity for the ballast water to become contaminated with potentially invasive organisms, then discharged in the lakes.
Lake freighters, or lakers, travel only within the Great Lakes. Invader species are not established in all of the Great Lakes or the entire bodies of the individual akes. We must be careful to not move the invader species within the Great Lakes. We must push for national ballast water legislation that will require the treatment of all commercial vessel ballast water. These regulations must apply to all ships on the lakes.
The Ohio EPA's 401 Water Certification for Lake Erie Shippers went into effect in December 2008. It is too weak to be effective. National ballast water legislation is the best way to address this issue.
Such legislation must:
-- Provide adequate treatment standards to kill as many invasive plants, animals, invertebrates, and human pathogens as possible in the ballast water of ships traveling within the Great Lakes. The standards must be much stricter than existing international maritime regulations possibly exceeding current standards by 100 times.
-- Require all vessels traveling the Great Lakes install systems that meet treatment standards per legislative requirements by 2010 with no possibility of more than one 2 year extension.
-- Coast Guard must have the enforcement authority with the US EPA setting the treatment standards, which can be increased above the standard established if the US EPA if deems it necessary to meet the desired results and is technologically possible.
-- The enforcement of these standards must be enforceable by citizen-initiated actions.
The Great Lakes are a legacy that must be protected. They are a national treasure for our current generation utilize and enjoy, but must be preserved for our future generations by prompt decisive actions now.
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Distributed without profit to ESA Great Lakes District members who have expressed an interest in receiving aquatic invasive species information for research and educational purposes.
