Study: 'Salties' harm greater than benefits

[Spiel]

Study: 'Salties' harm greater than benefits

 

 

Thursday, May 22, 2008

Jeff Alexander / mlive.com

 

 

PETERBOROUGH, Ontario -- The environmental costs of ocean freighters hauling cargo on the Great Lakes outweigh the economic benefits by a nearly 6-to-1 ratio, according to a new study.

 

Ocean freighters -- known as "salties" -- have imported 57 exotic species to the Great Lakes since 1959, when the St. Lawrence Seaway opened the lakes to transoceanic ships, according to government data.

 

Those nonindigenous species now cause $300 million damage annually to Great Lakes fisheries, recreational activities and large water intake facilities, according to preliminary results from a University of Notre Dame study.

 

"If you sum up the direct loss of ecosystem services attributable to nonindigenous species, in 2006 those losses were $300 million," said John Rothlisberger, a University of Notre Dame graduate student. He presented the data Wednesday at the annual meeting of the International Association for Great Lakes Research.

 

The $300 million figure dwarfs the transportation savings achieved by allowing ocean freighters to carry cargo into the Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway, according to a separate study.

 

A recent Grand Valley State University study concluded that ocean freighters reduce the cost of shipping international cargo on the Great Lakes by $55 million annually, or 6 percent.

 

Industry officials have called the GVSU study simplistic and misguided but have presented no scientific data to discredit its findings.

 

Numerous studies have found that exotic species imported by ocean ships have unleashed a biological hurricane beneath the sparkling waters of the Great Lakes.

 

The Notre Dame study was the first comprehensive effort to quantify how much value exotic species steal each year from valuable natural services the Great Lakes provide. The lakes' $7 billion sport and commercial fishery has been hurt the most by exotic species, according to the study.

 

"Direct economic losses are the greatest for sport fishing, at more than $200 million per year," Rothlisberger said. Absent exotic species, he said the lakes would support a far more robust fishery.

 

Rothlisberger cautioned that the $300 million damage figure was an estimate which could change as scientists conduct more research.

 

Though ocean ships account for less than 10 percent of all cargo moved on the Great Lakes, Rothlisberger said the so-called salties have imported 67 percent of the 84 foreign species discovered since the Seaway opened.

 

Zebra and quagga mussels native to eastern Europe have dramatically altered the lakes' food chain and spawned blooms of noxious and toxic algae; round gobies have become the dominant fish in western Lake Erie and some Great Lakes connecting waters, including Muskegon Lake; and the Eurasian ruffe has taken over Duluth Harbor and could threaten Lake Erie's perch and walleye fisheries if it spreads beyond Lake Huron, he said.

 

There are 185 foreign species in the lakes; a new species is discovered every seven months on average, according to government data.

 

Shipping industry officials were not at Rothlisberger's presentation and could not be reached for comment.

 

Jennifer Nalbone, a spokeswoman for Buffalo-based Great Lakes United, said ocean ships should be banned from the lakes until they are equipped with ballast water treatment systems.

 

"New legislation must require salties to meet stringent ballast discharges standards; until that time, we should be using alternative modes of transportation," Nalbone said.