On Mon, 20 Dec 2004 17:30:26 -0600, "Wolfgang"
wrote:

The lead story on the front page of yesterday's Milwaukee Journal Sentinel,
titled "Sea of Change", chronicles an environmental disaster in the making.
The zebra mussel, just one of over 180 non-native species that have become
established in the Great Lakes, has been implicated in a host of problems
that include the cataclysmic drop in populations of diporeia (tiny
crustaceans that "for thousands of years been the primary foundation of the
Lake Michigan food chain"), increased water clarity resulting in explosive
algal blooms......which in turn lead to incalculable masses of rotted algae
washes up on what used to be popular beaches...., and the proliferation of
botulism-causing bacteria. There's a whole lot more.....in addition to the
problems caused by all those other invasive species.

There's more.....lots more.....four full pages. The bottom line is that
much money is being spent on research, but precious little is being done to
solve the problems. New species are currently being introduced into the
Great Lakes at the stunning rate of about one every eight months primarily
from the bilges of foreign freighters coming through the Saint Lawrence
seaway. Legislation requiring such vessels to pump bilges before entering
the seaway is largely ignored.

I have no idea what can be done about it (the material in the paper didn't
help)......nothing, in all likelihood. It's probably too late. Just a
heads up.

Wolfgang
and yeah, it can happen there too.......and it IS.



The New Zealand Mud Snail is beginning to be a major issue in some
West Coast waters as well.