| Bill seeks new rules for ships
that spread invasive species
March 5, 2003 By John Richardson, Portland Press Herald Writer Portland Press Herald 390 Congress St. Portland, ME 04101-5009 207-791-6324 Fax: 207-791-6924 To submit a Letter to the Editor: letters@pressherald.com A group of U.S. lawmakers is pushing for better international safeguards against invasive plants and animals, including a small Asian crab spreading up the Maine coast and potentially threatening native organisms. The lawmakers, including Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, plan to introduce a broad invasive-species bill today that would set aggressive deadlines for ships entering American ports to sanitize ballast water tanks that can carry organisms around the world. Last week, Collins and other lawmakers met with the Bush administration's lead international maritime negotiator to lobby for more aggressive rules on shipping worldwide. "In all likelihood, the Asian shore crab was carried to the East Coast of the United States in the ballast water of ships, allowing it to spread to Maine just two years ago," Collins said in a prepared statement. "We need to adopt strong ballast-water standards in order to stop giving species like this a free ride across the ocean." The spread of foreign organisms that can drive out native plants and animals or cause environmental and property damage is considered one of the top marine environmental threats worldwide. European green crabs swarmed the Maine coast in the 1950s, devouring the soft-shell clam industry. The crabs, now dominant predators in Maine tide pools, still require damage-control efforts costing an estimated $44 million a year in the United States. Asian shore crabs, meanwhile, were first spotted in New Jersey in 1988, took over tide pools in southern New England and reached Maine two years ago. Some fear that, besides competing with green crabs, the fast-spreading invaders will take a toll on shellfish and perhaps even juvenile lobsters. Vessels that travel around the globe are considered the biggest marine conveyor of foreign organisms. In May 2001, a new Bath Iron Works dry dock arrived from China with a colony of Pacific seaweed and snails clinging to the exterior of its hull. Although the hitchhikers generated fears of a bio-invasion, the organisms soon died off in the cold Kennebec River. Potential invaders are more commonly carried inside a ship in ballast water tanks. An empty ship is filled with seawater to provide extra stability before it leaves a port, and the water is emptied before the ship gets loaded with cargo in another port. Modern cargo ships can carry between 100,000 and 10 million gallons of ballast water. Although most ships coming to Portland do not discharge ballast water because they are bringing in full loads of cargo, Maine is a relatively easy trip from ports up and down the East Coast. Asian shore crabs were believed to be carried in ballast water to the mid-Atlantic coast. "Once something comes to this side of the Atlantic, it's inevitable that it'll get dispersed over time and settle in where the environmental conditions will let it survive," said John Sowles, ecologist with the Maine Department of Marine Resources. Collins and other lawmakers met last week with Joe Angelo, the lead U.S. negotiator to the International Maritime Organization's convention on invasive species in ballast water. Angelo and representatives from around the world will meet this month to debate new rules for the global shipping fleet, including deadlines for the installation of ballast water treatment technology that can kill potential invaders before they are pumped overboard. Researchers are still developing mechanical and chemical treatment systems, and none have yet been proven safe and effective. Federal and international rules now encourage ships to flush ballast water tanks whenever possible in the open ocean, where foreign organisms are less likely to survive. Collins said the United States needs to take a strong stand to force aggressive action by the IMO, which is considering a requirement that ships built after 2018 be equipped to treat ballast water. Angelo has been pushing for a 2013 deadline, according to Collins. He could not be reached for comment. "To me, every day we don't act we are endangering the health of our waters," Collins said Tuesday. Collins and Sen. Carl Levin, D-Mich., as well as members of the House of Representatives, plan to introduce legislation today requiring ships built after 2006 to have treatment systems before entering U.S. waters. Ships built before that date would need to have treatment systems installed by 2011. Supporters of better safeguards hope the threat of a different and more stringent set of rules for U.S. ports will force the international shipping community to compromise and take a more aggressive stand worldwide. "The only thing that brings them to the table is the fear that if they don't negotiate an international agreement, then the individual countries like the U.S. might do it on their own and, even worse, they could be all different," said Allegra Cangelosi, senior policy analyst at the Northeast-Midwest Institute, a nonprofit research organization that supports the bill. The legislation also would create incentives and certification standards for ballast treatment systems. "It would require the Coast Guard to set in place new standards to eliminate invasive species form ballast water," Collins said. In addition, the bill has broader provisions that would control the spread of freshwater invasive species such as milfoil, an aquatic plant that can choke a lake or pond and has been spread in Maine by pleasure boats. "These invasive species can take root in a lake bottom so easily," Collins said. "These are really dangerous, and even though the state of Maine has started to take action, it's not enough." The bill would provide more money to states, and would establish a national monitoring network and rapid response fund to control the spread of new arrivals. Copyright © 2003 Blethen Maine Newspapers Inc. http://rdr.sbml.cc/Click?q=d3-GZOkQJP5YHzRH0GKqyzz_bAw The Bill: The National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2003 is scheduled to be introduced in Congress today by Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, and other co-sponsors. The bill is intended to fight coastal invaders such as the Asian shore crab and freshwater threats such as milfoil. The bill would: Require ships entering U.S. ports to have management plans to prevent foreign organisms from getting transported in ballast tanks, and require all ships entering U.S. waters to sanitize ballast water by 2011. Provide $170 million in federal funding to fight aquatic invasive species, including $30 million to support state-by-state management plans. Establish ecological surveys to detect invaders and rapid response resources to fight new bio-invasions. Create education programs to fight the spread of invasive species by recreational boaters and others. Finance research into pathways for invasive species and prevention and control technologies. |