Entry to a ballast tank in a ship's cargo hold.(Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes NOBOB Team)
New research supports the practice of “swish and spit” for ocean-going ships. As Mark
Brush reports – the practice of rinsing ballast tanks with ocean salt water will help stop
aquatic pests from getting into US harbors:
Transcript
New research supports the practice of “swish and spit” for ocean-going ships. As Mark
Brush reports – the practice of rinsing ballast tanks with ocean salt water will help stop
aquatic pests from getting into US harbors:
Aquatic invasive species cause billions of dollars in damage every year. Many hitchhike
here from foreign ports in the ballast tanks of cargo ships. And even when ships declare that
they have no ballast on board – the ballast tanks still have muck in the bottom where
invasive species hide.
David Reid is with the Great Lakes Environmental Research Lab. He says their research supports the idea that all ships should rinse out the tanks during their journey across the ocean:
“That’s why we call it swish and spit. From the point of view of the ballast tank, it’s
very similar to doing a mouthwash. You’re taking in a little bit of fluid, sloshing it around, and spitting it – or in this case pumping it out.”
Reid says the practice doesn’t get rid of every creature lurking in ballast tanks, but it’s
better than doing nothing at all. Right now, the US does not require swish and spit for
ships that declare no ballast on board.
Ballast holds can carry aquatic species from foreign ports to U.S. ports. Those species can cause severe damage to the ecological system of harbors, lakes and rivers. (Photo courtesy of NOAA Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory)
Coast Guard Marine Science Technician Sheridan McClellan demonstrates some of the equipment used to check the ballast water of foreign ships. Environmentalists believe the Coast Guard should be given the equipment and authority to more thoroughly check the ships for invasive species in ballast water. (Photo by Lester Graham)
Harbors in the United States risk biological pollution every time a foreign ship comes into port. The ships often carry foreign aquatic animals that can cause environmental and economic damage. Lester Graham reports the problem is known, acknowledged, and still the government has not taken the measures needed to stop the problem:
Transcript
Harbors in the United States risk biological pollution every time a foreign ship comes into port. The ships often carry foreign aquatic animals that can cause environmental and economic damage. Lester Graham reports the problem is known, acknowledged, and still the government has not taken the measures needed to stop the problem:
Ships use water for ballast to keep the ship balanced and level. But taking up ballast water in a foreign port also takes up aquatic hitch-hikers, such as zebra mussels.
Most cargo ships on the Great Lakes are American or Canadian and just travel within the lakes. Ships from overseas only make up a small fraction of the cargo traffic to ports in the Great Lakes, but those ships have brought in dozens of invasive species that have hurt the ecology of the lakes. Some invasives eat the eggs of native fish. They compete for food. They cause disruptions that have led to massive die-offs of fish and waterfowl such as seagulls, loons, and terns.
It has also cost industry, and ultimately you. For example, it costs to clean out zebra mussels from water intake pipes, and some fish have become more scarce.
Jennifer Nalbone is with the environmental organization Great Lakes United. She says it’s a real problem.
“One of the greatest tensions that exists in the Great Lakes today is between commercial navigation development and the invasive species that are being brought into the region by a small subset of ships that are operating on the Great Lakes.”
Nalbone says government agencies could require ships from overseas to install filters or treatment systems that would stop the aquatic nuisances from being brought on board. But those agencies have not done anything. They say Congress hasn’t instructed them to do anything.
And Jennifer Nalbone says many in Congress don’t understand much about invasive species and ballast water.
“It’s very difficult to get things done in D.C. when key federal leaders and committees are not from the Great Lakes region, and they want their own projects advanced first.”
You can imagine if you’re a Congressman from Oklahoma, or Idaho, or Arizona, invasive species from ballast water likely are not at the top of your to-do list.
The only thing that is required is overseas ships have to exchange their ballast water with ocean water once they’re at sea. The idea is to flush out the invasives. It’s not been entirely effective because new invasive species have been brought into the Great Lakes since the policy went into effect.
Allegra Cangelosi is a senior policy analyst with the Northeast-Midwest Institute. She’s been working on the Great Lakes Ballast Technology Demonstration Project for a decade now, trying to find solutions to the ballast treatment problem.
Cangelosi says since the ballast water exchange policy was put into effect, not much else has been done. She says the hold up now is because some government officials don’t want to do anything until a perfect standard is set for ballast treatment. Cangelosi says it doesn’t have to be perfect.
“No, I mean, I’ve been in this business, I’ve been following this issue since 1989 and this is the worst stalemate I’ve ever experienced on this issue area. And, I think what we need to do is just get real and start to require ships to use treatments that are available. So, if we can get ships to use even an imperfect treatment system that is better than what we’re doing now, that’s the road to getting to the perfect treatment system, and it’s the road to improving prevention in the near term.”
The overseas shipping industry says it’s working on the problem. The International Maritime Organization has set a standard for ballast water treatment, but, it’s voluntary. Almost no foreign ships have volunteered because they don’t want to choose a system that might not meet the standard the U.S. government will someday set.
Adolph Ojard is the Executive Director of the Duluth, Minnesota Seaway Port Authority. He says ballast treatment will happen, eventually.
“I don’t have a timeline right now, but I tell you what, we know the problem is contained within the ballast tank of a ship. So, it’s identified. I would think within the next few years we would have a system that is effective, and then we’ll go through an implementation phase.”
But those who are concerned about damage to the Great Lakes fishery and the entire ecological system say right now more invasives are being introduced by foreign ships every year.
Jennifer Nalbone with Great Lakes United says those foreign organisms have caused enough damage already.
“We certainly have enough information to take action. We know that there are tremendous impacts. So, we don’t need to have yet another species come into the lakes before we say ‘let’s do something now.'”
The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been ordered by a judge to treat ballast water like pollution. It’s unclear whether the EPA will accept or challenge that ruling. Meanwhile, quietly, some economists and others are wondering if the price the invasives cost the economy is worth the commerce that the relatively few foreign ships bring to Great Lakes ports.
For the Environment Report, this is Lester Graham.
Eurasian Watermilfoil is one of the non-native species that has
invaded inland lakes. (Photo courtesy of National Park Service)
An up-close look at Eurasian Watermilfoil. (Photo courtesy of the
Washington State Department of Ecology)
Invasive plants, fish and other creatures are threatening many inland lakes. Environmentalists and property owners are trying to stop the spread…before the invaders dramatically alter the smaller bodies of water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ann-Elise Henzl reports:
Transcript
Invasive plants, fish and other creatures are threatening many inland
lakes. Evironmentalists and property owners are trying to stop the
spread…before the invaders dramatically alter the smaller bodies of
water. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Ann-Elise Henzl reports:
It’s strange to think that plants and animals from Europe, Asia and Africa
are living in small lakes in the Midwest. Boaters have taken invaders
there…after picking them up in the Great Lakes.
The big lakes are home to more than 160 aquatic invasive species,
including Eurasian Watermilfoil. The stringy plant grows in thick
clusters that get up to 12 feet tall.
“I have seen lakes where if you fell out of the boat in these massive
weeds and you weren’t wearing a life jacket, I don’t care how good a
swimmer you are, you would sink. You can not struggle your way
through these thick entanglements of weeds.”
Ted Ritter leads an effort to reduce aquatic invasive species…in
Wisconsin’s Vilas County.
(Sound of pontoon motor)
On one afternoon he takes his pontoon boat on a lake that had an
infestation of Eurasian Watermilfoil.
“It is a very aggressive plant and it has no natural predators to control its
growth, it grows up to two inches a day.”
When Eurasian Watermilfoil finds conditions it likes, it takes over
quickly. A piece as small as two inches can break off, and float away to
create a new plant.
Eurasian Watermilfoil is widespread in northern Michigan… northern
Wisconsin and other places. It’s one of dozens of aquatic invasive
species on the move in the region.
One of the worst invaders is zebra mussels. They can ravage a lake’s
ecosystem.
(Sound of motor boat)
So far, they’ve made it to just one lake in northern Wisconsin. Mike
Preul with the Lake Superior Chippewa scuba dives there, to count the
mussels. Three years ago, he found 7 adults per square meter. This year,
he counted more than 14-hundred:
“They’re still increasing. What they’ve seen in other systems is that just
like with any other exotic species they’ll come in, the population will
explode, they’ll kind of eat themselves out of house and home, and then
they’ll come down to a level and reach a steady state.”
No method has been discovered to get rid of zebra mussels, but there are
ways to control some invaders.
Herbicides can be used to kill Eurasian Watermilfoil, and some property
owners chip in to buy aquatic insects to kill the plants.
Les Schramm did that on his local lake:
“As the larvae hatches it burrows into the stem of the Eurasian
Watermilfoil and sort of eats out the center vascular part, and it falls over
and dies.”
People fighting aquatic invasive species say it’s like fighting weeds in a
garden — the work never stops and it can be expensive.
Ted Ritter of Vilas County says it costs thousands of dollars to treat a
lake once. So, often people do nothing.
Ritter says that can hurt the environment. He says it can also threaten the
economy, in areas like northern Wisconsin that rely on tourism.
Ritter says the invaders can reduce the appeal of a lake. He mentions a
plant called “curly leaf pondweed.” When it dies in the middle of
summer, it creates algae blooms that look like slimy green pillows:
“When people arrive at resorts and they look out and they see that very
unappealing lake they say ‘I’m not staying here,’ and they go somewhere
else. When realtors bring prospective buyers out to look at a property,
people get out of their car and they go right to the lake and they say ‘oh
my, I’m not even interested in looking at the house. This lake is
horrible.'”
Because it’s so difficult to control invasive species, Ritter and others
fighting the invaders focus on prevention.
Local volunteers and workers from the Wisconsin Department of Natural
Resources spend hours at boat landings. They urge people to clean their
boats, trailers, and fishing gear thoroughly when going from lake to lake,
that can keep unwanted plants and creatures from traveling along.
We hear all the time about invasive species in the Great Lakes region. But many people have no idea what Eurasian Ruffe, Round Goby, or European Frogbit look like and even less of an idea about what to do about the problem. But environmental education groups are trying to change that. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
Transcript
We hear all the time about invasive species in the Great Lakes region. But many people have no
idea what Eurasian ruffe, Round Goby, or European frogbit look like and even less of an idea
about what to do about the problem. But environmental education groups are trying to change
that. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Tamar Charney reports:
Doug Jensen runs the Aquatic Invasive Species Information Center for the University of
Minnesota Sea Grant Program. He’s created a series of nine cards to help people identify exotic
species that are causing problems in the lakes.
“The front cover of the card is high quality photo of the aquatic plant, fish or invertebrate species
and it folds open and the inside of card has text which describes what the problem is how the
species is spreading and what people can do to take action and prevent the spread.”
Jenson hopes people will keep the ID cards in their tackle boxes, glove compartments, and aboard
their boats. Over 3.2 million of them have been printed including a French language version for
Quebec. They’ll be distributed through bait shops, marinas, environmental education
organizations, and resource management offices throughout the Great Lakes
region.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Tamar Charney.
Lawmakers have introduced a bill that they hope will reinvigorate the fight against aquatic invasive species. The Great Lakes Radio Consortium’s Mark Brush reports:
Transcript
Lawmakers have introduced a bill that they hope will reinvigorate the
fight against aquatic invasive species. The Great Lakes Radio
Consortium’s Mark Brush reports:
The bill is an attempt by lawmakers to beef up the National Invasive
Species Act of 1996. Critics say that the old law didn’t go far enough
in protecting the U.S. from importing harmful species.
Allegra Cangelosi is a senior policy analyst with the Northeast-Midwest
Institute. She says that federal and state agencies and research
organizations, must work together to be successful.
“One of the characteristics of these invasive species is that they can
come in your live seafood package or they could come in your bait
bucket, or in your ship – there’s so many different vectors by which
invasive species come, and there’s no one agency that has jurisdiction
over all of them.”
Cangelosi says if the bill is passed into law, it will improve the way
agencies cooperate in tackling the invasive species problem. The bill
also calls for current funding levels to be quadrupled.
For the Great Lakes Radio Consortium, I’m Mark Brush.
Entry to a ballast tank in a ship's cargo hold.(Photo courtesy of the Great Lakes NOBOB Team)
