Workshop II Aquatic Invasive
Species
Ken Wagner, Michelle Robinson DCR
We spend one billion dollars a year in this country
to fight invasive species.
There are 3 parts to the program:
I. Prevention
II. Rapid response
III. Long term management
They used Florida as an example of what can happen if
you don’t have rapid response. In that state, 95% of the lakes and ponds
are invested with invasive species. Why? It takes so long to receive
permission from local conservation commissions to get approval for
treatment. If there is a protected endangered species that would be harmed
there is a much larger problem. Many laws prohibit doing anything that
would destroy an endangered species. In most cases this is a good thing
but not when it involves a species that will take over and kill the
endangered species anyway. The important lesson learned from Florida is
get rid of it. Now! Nuke it if you have to, but get rid of it.
How do they get here?
How does an invasive
species from the other side of the world get into our lakes and rivers.
Here is one example: The Connecticut River had a new invasive species.
Genetic testing showed that the only other place this species existed was
in New Zealand. They traced the origin of the problem to a fishing guide
who booked trips on the Connecticut River and also in New Zealand.
30% of Mass lakes have invasive species. The 3
legged stool of lake Management is Science, Education, and Socioeconomics
More common ways that foreign species are introduced
or transferred from one water body to another are boats, bait buckets and
aquariums.
Usual scenario. Mom doesn’t want to take care of the
kid’s fish tank anymore. The child understandably doesn’t want to flush
the fish down the toilet so he dumps in the nearest lake, pond or stream.
They passed around shells of zebra mussels and showed
pictures of massive infestations. One was an old car taken from a lake. It
was completely covered with zebra mussels. This gave a whole new meaning
to the words “muscle car.” Zebra mussels have shut down 3 power plants on
Lake Ontario.
In conclusion, invasive species cause loss of
property values, loss of biodiversity, crowd out native species, destroy
fish habitat and can devastate the food chain.
