The current range of the invasive zebra mussel. The mussel was first spotted in the Great Lakes in 1988 after being dumped overboard by a foreign ship. It has since spread throughout much of the United States.
Cargo ships bring goods that we buy, but they also bring invasive critters in their ballast water. These invaders compete with native species and upset the natural balance. Now, delegates from around the world have drawn up a plan to help stop the spread of these foreign stowaways. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:
Transcript
Cargo ships bring goods that we buy. But they also bring invasive critters in their ballast water.
These invaders compete with native species and upset the natural balance. Now, delegates from
around the world have drawn up a plan to help stop the spread of these foreign stowaways. The
Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush has more:
Ships need ballast water to keep them upright when sailing open waters. But often that ballast
water contains foreign species.
The international plan aims to implement guidelines that would clean up the ballast water. The
delegates will now try to get their countries to sign onto the plan.
It will be ratified when 30 countries representing 35% of the cargo shipped sign onto it.
Dennis Schornack is the U.S. Chair of the International Joint Commission. The Commission
monitors the health of the Great Lakes. He says the U.S. can’t wait for ratification and needs to
pass it’s own law now.
“I mean we’re having a new species discovered on the average of one every eight months. And if
the convention goes along an ordinary schedule of ratification it could be up to ten years to fifteen
years before it’s effective worldwide. So, we can’t wait that long.”
Schornack is hoping the international plan will give Congress the framework it needs to pass its
own law this year.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.