Biodiversity wanes in New York

Throttling invasive species by TJ Sinnott

Bulwark for the Great Lakes and Hudson River by P Gerrity

Stopping ballast water "stowaways" by D Pughiuc

Biological pollutants in the Great Lakes by EL Mills, KT Holeck

Water quality signatures and the zebra mussel invasion by DA Matthews, SW Effler

Zebra mussel population dynamics: Implications for water quality modeling by CL Lange, DR Opdyke, JC Powers

Bad seeds: an introduction to invasive plants by AD Halpern, CA Boesse, AE Altor

You can help stop the plant invasion

President's message by D Ellis

Executive director's message by P Cerro-Reehil

People and places

NYWEA calendar

Sponsors at 73d Annual Meeting

Spring 2001 — Vol. 31, No. 1

Throttling invasive species

 
New York State uses the term Aquatic Nuisance Species (ANS) as a general description of non-indigenous, exotic, invasive aquatic species associated with harm to the environment. By definition in the Federal Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990:

A non-indigenous species . . . threatens the diversity or abundance of native species, or the ecological stability of infested waters, or commercial, agricultural, aquacultural or recreational activities dependent upon such waters.

Figure 1. Ready access by transoceanic ships to New York waters through the Hudson Estuary, St. Lawrence Seaway, and Great Lakes make New York vulnerable to ANS from ballast water transfers.

In New York State, the interest and concern in managing ANS and their associated adverse effects had been going on long before the term ANS was coined. The first ANS that significantly affected New York State were the alewife and the sea lamprey; both entered Lake Ontario after the opening of the Erie Canal in 1825. New York has participated with the Great Lakes Fishery Commission since it was founded in 1955 specifically to control the effects of the sea lamprey.

Figure 2. The sea Lamprey invaded the Great Lakes after the opening of the Welland Canal In 1829 and has dealt a severe blow to the fishing industry in the Great Lakes. After attaching itself to the side of a fish, the lamprey rasps through the skin of the fish with its tongue and sucks out the blood of the fish through the hole. Only very large fish can survive a sea lamprey attack but are left with gaping wounds.

Combating ANS

For more than 30 years, New York State has provided local assistance grants to municipal governments and lake associations to help to control problems from ANS aquatic plants such as Eurasian watermilfoil, curlyleaf pondweed, and water chestnut. The State has provided financial assistance for purchasing, maintaining, and operating mechanical harvesters, for herbicide treatments, and for technical support and assistance. This support has been managed through the Lake Services Section in the NYSDEC Division of Water.

The Lake Services Section also runs a volunteer program in which lakeshore property owners and others can learn how to identify ANS plants and collect and submit samples for identification. This volunteer program is effective for monitoring the movement and distribution of ANS plants as well as obtaining basic water quality information on lakes across the state. The Lake Services Section has also conducted extensive ANS plant research and numerous aquatic plant surveys in Lake George each year. The section has an excellent public outreach program through conferences, lake association meetings, site visits, and management.

Other ANS management programs are run by the Division of Fish, Wildlife and Marine Resources. ANS species management is accomplished both on a regional level, in response to localized needs and concerns, and by the central office. Region 1 (Long Island) and the Bureau of Marine Resources address concerns with marine ANS. They are currently modifying regulations to prevent the introduction of Chinese mitten crab, a potential invader of the Hudson estuary.

Region 3 (Catskills) and Region 8 (western Finger Lakes) both have programs for controlling purple loosestrife. Region 5 (Adirondacks) has a program for hand-harvesting water chestnut growth from several ponds each year. Region 8 has been monitoring the ecological effects of zebra mussels in eight Finger Lakes. Both the Lake Erie and Lake Ontario Fisheries units participate in monitoring ANS such as zebra mussels, round goby, and spiny water fleas. The Lake Erie Unit has studied the effects of zebra mussels on the spawning shoals of walleye and lake trout. The Bureau of Fisheries also is actively involved in sea lamprey control in Cayuga Lake, Seneca Lake, and Lake Champlain.

Figure 3. Zebra mussels, Dreissena polymorpha, are fingernail-sized mussels native to the Caspian Sea region of Asia. They were discovered in Lake St. Claire near Detroit in 1988. Tolerant of a wide range of environmental conditions, zebra mussels filter plankton from the surrounding water. They clog water systems of power plants and water treatment facilities as well as irrigation systems. They have severely reduced and in some cases, eliminated native mussel species.

Both Region 5 and Region 6 (northwestern NY) have been working to protect ponds that are habitat for unique strains of native Adirondack brook trout from other fish species such as yellow perch. Perch are native to northern New York but not to these small isolated drainages. When introduced to these ponds, often by fishermen, these "local" ANS reproduce quickly and can out-compete brook trout, thus risking the loss of the unique strains forever.
 

New York was the first state in the nation to have an approved ANS management plan and to receive Federal funding.

Regulation and outreach

It is unlawful to release zebra mussels or water chestnut into the waters of the State intentionally. Regulations also make it illegal to use round goby, an ANS fish which recently entered Lake Ontario, as bait. It is unlawful for anyone to introduce or release any species of fish, wildlife, insect, or invertebrate into the wild without a permit from NYSDEC. Other regulatory programs, such as the aquatic pesticide permitting process, are also important tools for controlling and managing ANS.

The Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 is Federal legislation that outlines national efforts to manage ANS. To encourage states, the Act authorizes the Federal government to fund up to 75% of state activities for management of ANS, providing the state has a Federally approved ANS management plan. New York was the first state in the nation to have an approved ANS management plan and to receive Federal funding. Since 1995, New York has received nearly $250,000 for ANS management activities including:

• Funding to monitor the Finger Lakes for the ecological effects of zebra mussels
• Partially funding the development of an invasive species display in the New York State Museum
• Purchasing insects for herbivorous control of purple loosestrife
• Supporting Cornell University's studies of insects that consume Eurasian watermilfoil and the interactions between zebra mussels and quagga mussels
• Funding the development of a the brochure "Common Nuisance Plants," published by the NYSDEC Division of Water, Lake Services Section
• Funding scientific research of biological controls for zebra mussels.

The New York State ANS Management Plan is currently being revised to update the plan, to allow for more public input, and to bring it into compliance with recent Federal guidance.

Most ANS species are introduced inadvertently by people. Zebra mussels and plants like Eurasian watermilfoil are transported from one lake to another by hitchhiking on boat trailers. ANS fish can be transported into new waters as bait. One approach to trying to prevent the spread of ANS is by the use of strict regulations—an approach that NYSDEC does not favor. Instead, the Department prefers education and outreach to encourage those that enjoy our aquatic resources to take measures to protect these resources. For example, boaters can learn to clean and inspect their own boats and remove entangled vegetation. Anglers can become familiar with different species of common bait fish and be careful not to release unknown fish into the water. By working together, everyone can be a part of protecting aquatic resources from ANS.
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Timothy J. Sinnott is a Biologist 2 (Ecology) with the Bureau of Habitat, Division of Fish, Wildlife & Marine Resources in the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation.

 Web extra: Ag & Markets' role in controlling exotic species.
 
Photo credits Figure 1: Courtesy of MIT. Source: U.S. Coast Guard. "Aquatic nuisance species photo gallery," January 20, 2001.
Figure 2: Courtesy of Great Lakes Fishery Commission, source: U.S. Coast Guard. "Aquatic nuisance species photo gallery," January 20, 2001.
Figure 3: Source: U.S. Coast Guard. "Aquatic nuisance species photo gallery," January 20, 2001.)