Coastal Services Center

Plants, animals, and microbes from foreign places are invading our nation's marine ecosystems, causing extensive damage to the environment and economy. The most prominent of these intruders is the fingernail-size zebra mussel that has cost Great Lakes municipalities and industries more than $70 million in their efforts to research, control, and manage infestations.

The swift invasion of the zebra mussel and its vast environmental impact has taught Great Lakes managers that states and regions must work together to share information and resources to prevent the introduction or spread of aquatic nuisance species, and that their individual efforts must fit into this broader context.

"You're a lot stronger working together on this," says Catherine Cunningham, chief of the Michigan Coastal Management Program. "If you have one state that's doing something and another state that isn't, you're really minimizing your efforts. Aquatic nuisance species really need to be handled in a comprehensive manner."

Comprehensive management is needed, Cunningham notes, because many alien species, including the zebra mussel, have likely been introduced into our nation's ecosystems in ballast water released by transatlantic cargo ships. The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration estimates that 40,000 gallons of foreign ballast water is dumped into U.S. harbors every minute. An increase in global shipping in the latter half of this century has corresponded with an increase in introduced species. More than 140 nonnative aquatic species have entered the Great Lakes since 1810, and more than a third of those have been since the 1950s.

In 1988, the first zebra mussel was found in the U.S. in a lake near Detroit. It has since spread to more than 20 states. Its ability to reproduce rapidly and attach to any available substrate, including water pipes, intake screens, and boats, has caused million dollar headaches for lake-using power plants, utilities, and industrial facilities forced to retrofit their plants and make monitoring for zebra mussels a regular part of their maintenance.

The tiny mollusks also are having dramatic environmental impacts, says Mark Coscarelli, environmental specialist with the Michigan Department of Environmental Quality, who compares the damage they have exacted on the ecosystem to that of a large oil spill. Zebra mussels have severely altered habitat and the food web; affected native species, including almost eliminating a native clam species; and have been linked to the reemergence of toxic algal blooms in the region.

Jeff Reutter, director of the Ohio Sea Grant and Stone Laboratory at Ohio State University, says zebra mussels have been found to accumulate toxins at high levels. Research is being conducted to determine if those toxins can be transferred up the food chain to sport fish, such as smallmouth bass, which could have human health risks.

"They're aliens in our environment," says Mike Colvin, program manager for the Ohio Coastal Management Program, of aquatic nuisance species. "Plant and animal species are an ecological fit in their own environment, but in a new environment they can be aggressive and opportunistic."

Operating in conjunction with national regulations and research, Cunningham says Great Lakes states and two regional organizations have been working in three areas to stem the invasion of nuisance species: promoting effective and consistent regulation and management; research and monitoring; and educating the public and decision makers.

Regional efforts to address regulation and management began in 1991 when the Great Lakes Panel on Aquatic Nuisance Species was convened by the Great Lakes Commission, an eight-state compact agency. The 35-member panel was created as part of the federal Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990, says Mike Donahue, commission executive director.

One of the projects the panel helped initiate is a model comprehensive state management plan for the prevention and control of invasive species. The model plan provides step by step goals and objectives, which can be used by individual states to develop their own management plans. Donahue notes that most of the Great Lakes states have developed management plans following the model, and that other states around the country have utilized the plan. States that develop a management plan that is approved by the National Taskforce on Aquatic Nuisance Species are eligible for federal funds to assist with implementation.

Another weapon produced by the Great Lakes Panel in its fight against aquatic nuisance species is recently released model legislation. This model offers a "tool kit from which states, provinces, tribal authorities, and communities can select the legislative, regulatory, and policy provisions best suited to the aquatic nuisance species they face," Donahue says. The model features 15 sections that present recommended legislation and policies on topics such as establishing a management authority; defining regulated and unregulated species; and enforcement and penalties.

The area of research is being spearheaded at the regional level by the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the nation's first multistate environmental endowment. The fund's members are the governors of seven of the eight states that border the lakes.

"The focus of all of our efforts is really trying to prevent future invasions, rather than responding to, or documenting what is here presently," says David Rankin, fund program director. Research projects include filtration of ballast water; the potential effect of introduced species on public health; and the construction of barriers to prevent the transfer of species between water bodies.

Cunningham and Colvin agree that the region's six Sea Grant programs have taken a leadership role in educating the public and decision makers about zebra mussels and invasive species. Sea Grant efforts include developing information videos; maintaining databases of sightings; and providing information to recreational boaters.

Waiting to react after a species has a foothold is too late, says Mark Coscarelli. "Prevention is the key. Zebra mussels and other nuisance species don't respect legislative or jurisdictional boundaries. I don't think one state can do it on their own. By necessity, states and their partners have to come together to apply their resources most effectively."

The model State Management Plan for the Prevention and Control of Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Species can be viewed by pointing your browser to http://www.glc.org/projects/ans/modelsmp.pdf (requires a plug-in such as Adobe® Reader® to view). For more information on nuisance species, view Sea Grant's National Zebra Mussel and Aquatic Nuisance Species Clearinghouse at http://www.entryway.com/seagrant/. For more information about Great Lakes efforts to prevent and control invasive species contact Catherine Cunningham at (517) 335-3456, or cunningc@state.mi.us.