Page 12: of Maritime Reporter Magazine (September 2003)

Government Update

Careful, Your Species May Be Non-Indigenous

By Dennis L. Bryant, senior maritime counsel, Holland & Knight

Dangers posed by movement of species from one part of the world to another where they are uncommon (non- indigenous) have been recognized since the black death (bubonic plague) arrived in western Europe from central Asia in the I300's, killing up to one-third of

Europe's population. Modern medicine has been able to address most disease outbreaks, as evidenced by our recent experience with SARS (severe acute respiratory syndrome). The environ- ment has coped less successfully.

Since man began traveling long dis- tances in relatively short time, plants and animals have also made the voyage.

Some have been brought intentionally, as when European domestic animals and crops were transported to America and

Australia for farming. Others, such as rats, were brought unintentionally.

Regardless of why these non-indigenous species have reached a new environ- ment. the result may be disastrous for the native species.

Modern large ships present a particular environmental problem in this regard, as they are both fast and carry large vol- umes of water when in ballast. This bal- last water is commonly taken onboard when the vessel unloads its cargo in one port and discharged into local waters when the vessel is preparing to load a new cargo. As the distance between the two ports increases, the chances increase that plant and animal life in the ballast water will not be native to the waters where the ballast is discharged.

Generally, the local waters where the ballast is discharged will be sufficiently different from the waters where the bal- last was loaded that the plant and ani- mals contained therein fail to survive.

But, when those few non-indigenous species that do survive find a foothold, an ecological disaster is possible.

The Origin of the Species

It is believed that zebra mussels were transported in ballast water by ships sailing from ports in the Black Sea to the

Great Lakes of North America in the early 1980s. Infestations of zebra mus- sels were not noticed until about 1988, when they started clogging water intake pipes. Zebra mussels are such success- ful breeders and prodigious eaters and have so few natural enemies in their new environment that they tend to crowd out native species. Damages resulting from the spread of zebra mussels in North

American waters and resultant control expenses are estimated to cost $500 mil- lion annually.

While zebra mussels are the best known of the non-indigenous aquatic species, they are by no means alone.

The European Green Crab, now found on both coasts of North America, is a voracious predator that feeds on bivalve mollusks and small crustaceans. The

Chinese Mitten Crab (which may have been introduced illegally as a food source) has spread through the San

Francisco Bay region, burrowing into and weakening dikes and levees, as well

Dennis L. Bryant, Senior Maritime

Counsel at the law firm of Holland & Knight, Washington, D.C., is a contributing editor of MR/EN. as competing with local species. A recent study indicates that between six and 25 percent of the different species of plants and animals found in coastal waters of California may be non-indige- nous. For many of these, it is too early to determine whether they will have deleterious impacts on the local bios-

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