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7. International Cooperation
The transfer of aquatic species is occurring on a global scale. Carlton and Geller (1993) estimated that on any day, several thousand aquatic species may be in transport in the ballast tanks of ship's worldwide. It is essential that the U.S. and Canada cultivate a sustainable international approach to prevention of aquatic species invasions through international scientific cooperation, information sharing, and student/young scientist training.
As previously noted, 8 ballast-implicated new organisms found in the Great Lakes since 1986 are native to the Ponto-Caspian region of Europe. Many more fresh and low-salinity tolerant organisms from this region are either already moving or likely to be mobilized during the next decade. Russia signed a new trade agreement in 2000 with India, Iran, and Oman to create a united transport corridor from the Persian Gulf and Indian Ocean to the Baltic Sea. The projected increase in ship traffic on the Volga-Baltic Waterway almost guarantees that more Ponto-Caspian species will move to the Baltic and become available for transport to North American coastal ecosystems. A risk-based model indicated that there exists in coastal waters of Europe at least 26 species with invasion histories and life-history characteristics required for survival in ballast tanks that could invade the Great Lakes (Personal Communication, Igor Grigorovich, GLIER, University of Windsor). A high priority for the Great Lakes region should be development of methods for screening and assessing the risk posed by the many fresh and brackish-water tolerant organisms in key ballast water source regions.
In order to obtain the necessary scientific information about species in foreign ecosystems, international cooperation among scientists is essential. For example, the best and most complete information about Ponto-Caspian species moving through Europe is contained in the European and Russian literature and not easily accessible to North American scientists. Collaboration among Great Lakes, Russian, and European scientists potentially would yield important heretofore unavailable information.
As global shipping and trade changes with time, so too will the "hot" source regions for invasive species change. Therefore, it is essential that information be compiled on a long-term basis to track the trade characteristics of the overseas vessels that enter the Great Lakes every year.
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