Invasive Species Legislation

[Timber Loftis]

Don't know if anyone is interested, but invasive species are a huge enviro problem. Who can doubt the damage done by dutch elm disease, zebra mussels, or kudzu? And those are just US examples. The whole world is experiencing the problem. African nations tried to aquaculture Nile River Trout in Lake Victoria and the invasive trout killed off 14 entire genuses of cichlids that existed nowhere else on earth.

Legislation is starting to center around this, but right now they're just authorizing $180 million in research. I say plenty of research exists - we need control. Note it will be difficult because most control techniques (e.g. requiring ships to reballast before entering national waters) are probably unfair restrictions on trade under WTO/GATT. If such a [img]graemlins/1drool.gif[/img] topic interests you, I wrote a long paper for a Canadian NGO on the topic and can probably dig it out and send it electronically if anyone likes.

No. 50
Friday, March 14, 2003 Page A-3
ISSN 1521-9402
News

Invasive Species
Funding for Research on Prevention,
Control Sought in Bill Approved by Panel

Legislation that would authorize about $180 million over four years for research into the prevention and control of invasive aquatic species was unanimously approved by a House subcommittee March 13.
The bill (H.R. 1081), sponsored by Reps. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.), Wayne Gilchrest (R-Md.), and Brian Baird (D-Wash.), was approved without amendments by the House Science Subcommittee on Environment, Science, and Technology, which Ehlers chairs.

"It is time for Congress to realize that this threat continues to grow and will not go away unless we act," Ehlers said, adding that damage from invasive species cost the U.S. economy about $137 billion annually.

"Finally, the time has come for us to move this legislation forward--invasive species don't respect political boundaries or timelines, and they are arriving here even as we speak today."

The Aquatic Invasive Species Research Act, introduced March 5, would address the problem by:

funding research on the pathways through which the species enter U.S. waters and helping the Coast Guard reduce the threat of species introduction from ships;
establishing a program run by the Environmental Protection Agency to develop environmentally sound technologies to control and eradicate invasive species; and

providing a grant for the National Science Foundation to support academic research in systematics and taxonomy, to help maintain U.S. expertise in these areas, and to enhance the ability to identify invaders once they arrive (45 DEN A-10; 03/7/03 ).

Rep. Gil Gutknecht (R-Minn.) said that while the legislation was important, the subcommittee also needed to be "vigilant" to ensure that the measures in the bill are actually carried out and taken seriously.

Harmful Algal Blooms

The subcommittee also conducted a hearing into the problem of harmful algal blooms, which can produce toxins and cause hypoxia, both of which can hurt fisheries and impede recreational opportunities in coastal areas and inland waterways. These blooms occur in fresh and brackish waters as well as marine environments where they are known as "red tides."
"It is estimated that harmful algal blooms cost the U.S. $50 million a year, while hypoxia causes severe conditions in many locations, including the Gulf of Mexico, where a dead zone the size of New Jersey develops each summer," Ehlers said.

The problem of harmful algal blooms, such as those caused by certain toxic blue-green algae, may be related to invasive species by affecting the way nutrients are cycled, Ehlers said.

Udall said the harmful algal blooms are occurring with more frequency and intensity than 30 years ago and are a problem experienced by most U.S. coastal areas.

"We've not been successful in developing and implementing management strategies to reduce the intensity and frequency of the blooms," he said.

More Modeling, Monitoring Needed

Charles Groat, director of the U.S. Geological Survey, said models to track harmful algal blooms need to be developed, made more sophisticated, and based on good monitoring. While USGS collects much of the monitoring data, information also comes in from other agencies and may have inconsistencies due to differences in data collection protocols.
"We need research to improve the performance of the models," he said.

As the need for more monitoring increases, the network of USGS monitoring stations has declined, largely because of more demands on the system with little or no increases in funding, he said. Monitoring is "at the core" of understanding the processes causing harmful algal blooms, and is needed to make adaptive management programs effective.

"A key component of a successful solution is coordinated monitoring, modeling, and research activities," Groat said. "This will join our efforts to understand the processes and factors that control the sources and causes of excess nutrient and related chemical loads with the processes that cause recurring harmful algal blooms and hypoxia in coastal waters."

Wayne Carmichael, a biology professor at Wright State University in Dayton, Ohio, said more attention needs to be paid to harmful algal blooms in freshwater environments, but not at the expense of research in marine areas. Most studies have focused on impacts in coastal environments, he said.

Current studies are beginning to link the problem of harmful algal blooms (HABS) associated with blue-green algae, which he referred to as cyanobacteria, to invasive species. In the Great Lakes, for example, the zebra mussel, one of the most well-known invasive species, is thought to facilitate processes that help select toxic cyanobacteria as a dominant species, Carmichael said.

"These toxic Cyanobacteria blooms contribute to anoxia and hypoxia in certain areas of the Great Lakes," he said, adding that this supports the argument that funding should address "all HAB problems, not just the ones that impact our marine ecosystems."

Donald Anderson, senior biologist at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, said that while many may assume that pollution from human activity may be the cause of the increase and frequency of HABs in the past 30 years, the evidence does not necessarily agree.

"Many of the new or expanded HAB problems have occurred in waters where pollution is not an obvious factor," Anderson said. "Some new bloom events likely reflect indigenous populations that have been discovered because of better detection methods and more observers rather than new species introductions or dispersal events. Other spreading events are most easily attributed to dispersal via natural currents."

However, he also acknowledged the contribution of "global HAB expansion" resulting from the discharge of ballast water carrying alien species. Another factor, he said, is the "dramatic increase in aquaculture," which brings with it increased monitoring for product quality and safety that also reveals the presence of algae that may have always been there.

Ehlers said he planned to introduce legislation later this summer to reauthorize the 1998 Harmful Algal Bloom and Hypoxia Research and Control Act (HABHRCA), a law that resulted largely from the outbreak in the Chesapeake Bay area of pfiesteria piscicida, a microbe thought to be toxic.

Ehlers has circulated a draft of the bill for comment. Among other things, it would authorize average annual funding at $28 million over the next three years for continued HABHRCA activities, an assessment and research plan for freshwater harmful algal blooms, and a research plan for developing prevention, control, and mitigation methods.

By Susan Bruninga

Copyright © 2003 by The Bureau of National Affairs, Inc., Washington D.C.

[antryg]

Let's see if I can't translate this into layman terms. We recognize that this is a serious issue which will potentially upset a large number of voters on both sides of the issue if we actually try to do anything. The answer to this is to fund a study and then assure all that show interest in the topic that I'm on their side and we are just waiting for the study to conclude before we enact thoughtful and well founded actions.

If Mr. Rodgers were here he would say: "Can you say Pass the Buck, children? Sure you can!"