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By JOHN FLESHER AP Environmental Writer TRAVERSE CITY, Mich. (AP) — Foreign species that slipped into the Great Lakes in ballast tanks of oceangoing cargo ships cost the regional economy at least $200 million a year, said a University of Notre Dame study released Wednesday. But a separate report issued by the National Research Council rejected the proposal of some activists and politicians to stem the species invasion by closing the St. Lawrence Seaway or declaring it off-limits to oceangoing freighters. Instead, the U.S. and Canada should work together to make sure that saltwater ships exchange ballast water — or rinse their tanks if empty — while still at sea, said the report by the council’s Transportation Research Board. The reports come as environmentalists are prodding the U.S. Senate to approve a bill ordering ships to install systems for killing invasive fish, mussels and other critters that can disrupt the Great Lakes ecosystem. The measure has cleared the House but supporters say its prospects will be dim unless the Senate acts before its August recess. “Politics are holding up our ability to stop the next invader,” said Jennifer Nalbone, invasive species campaign director for Great Lakes United. Of the 185 exotic animals and plants that have established populations in the lakes, 84 have arrived since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened in 1959, providing a navigational link between the lakes and the Atlantic. Fifty-seven of the newcomers likely caught a ride in ballast water scooped up in foreign ports and dumped into the lakes when ships took on cargo, the Notre Dame report said. Among them: the round goby, the spiny water flea and the Eurasian ruffe. They also include zebra and quagga mussels, which have been especially damaging to the regional economy by clogging water intake pipes and gobbling algae at the base of the aquatic food web. Estimates of their cost to the economy have varied widely. The Notre Dame scientists suggested a price tag of $300 million last spring. But their latest report, using a different analytical method, pegged the loss at $200 million, saying it could grow with additional research. The total refers only to costs for the eight U.S. states on the Great Lakes. Canada also has suffered from the species invasion, said David Lodge, director of the university’s Center for Aquatic Conservation. “We wanted to apply objective scientific research to one of the most pressing questions being asked today: What are the benefits and costs of shipping in the Great Lakes region?” Lodge said. “The distributions of losses we found with invasions from shipping may be the tip of the iceberg.” Sport fishing has taken the biggest hit: $123.5 million in 2006, the year on which the data are based, the report said. Participation is 11 to 35 percent lower on the lakes than it would have been if fish populations hadn’t fallen because of exotics. Other damaged sectors of the economy include wildlife viewing ($47.6 million loss); raw water use by municipalities, power plants and industry ($27 million); and commercial fishing ($2.1 million). The study results “really point to the importance of recreational values in the Great Lakes,” said David Finnoff, a University of Wyoming economist who joined the project. The National Research Council study was requested by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, a nonprofit founded by the region’s governors. The mission was to halt the species invasion while also boosting global trade. Because of that dual mandate, the research panel dismissed shutting down the St. Lawrence Seaway or excluding ocean freighters, said chairman Jerry Schubel, president and CEO of the Aquarium of the Pacific. Doing so “clearly would not be trade-enhancing” and would lead to lengthy battles in Congress and the courts, Schubel said. But a strategy based on requiring ballast exchange and tank flushing could be implemented quickly, he said. The U.S. St. Lawrence Seaway Development Corp. imposed such a requirement this year and Canada did likewise in 2006. The two nations should adopt International Maritime Organization standards for ballast water cleanliness while developing better systems for monitoring compliance with exchange and flushing regulations, the report said. It recommended continued research of onboard sterilization methods such as chemicals and ultraviolet irradiation but stopped short of calling for them to be mandatory, as the House bill would do. Technology hasn’t advanced enough for that, Schubel said. Stuart Theis, executive director of the U.S. Great Lakes Shipping Association, praised the council for supporting continued operation of the seaway. “The proposal to just do away with all the jobs and all the commerce that the maritime industry brings to this part of the country would be ridiculous,” Theis said. But Jeff Skelding of the Healing Our Waters-Great Lakes Coalition said, “In the absence of immediate congressional action to control invasives, why would we take the option of closing the seaway off the table?” ——— On the Net: —Notre Dame study: http://www.glu.org/english/index.html —National Research Council study: http://national-academies.org
Posted 7/17/2008
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