important paper published in Science three months ago on this 

 study. 



In the shipping study we found that while records are kept of the 

 importation into this country of exotic land animals and plants, 

 there are no records kept by any Federal agency of the amounts 

 and sources of ballast water released in the United States — the 

 major vector for the introduction of exotic aquatic animals and 

 plants into this country. 



What have we seen since the zebra mussel appeared in the Great 

 Lakes in 1988? The gates for our marine coasts remained open and 

 so the flood continued. Cholera appeared in Mobile Bay, Alabama, 

 due to ballast water release; Japanese crabs have been found in 

 New Jersey and have now made their way up to Cape Cod and will 

 soon invade the Delaware and Chesapeake Bays. Carnivorous New 

 Zealand sea slugs were reported this summer in San Francisco Bay 

 eating their way through the clam populations. Russian jelly fish 

 appeared this spring in Petaluma, California. 



In the past few years a new aggressive European sea squirt has 

 appeared in fouling communities in Massachusetts and Connecti- 

 cut. New red tides and brown tides continue to appear on every 

 coast. From the Columbia River to Los Angeles and Long Beach 

 harbors, to the New Hampshire and Maine coasts, and to the jet- 

 ties of Port Aransas, Texas, new invasions have poured in and they 

 continue to pour in. 



At any moment, other sites can become new invasion hot spots. 

 Ports receiving huge amounts of ballast water include Houston and 

 Galveston, New York and Norfolk, while New Orleans ranks as the 

 number one U.S. port in terms of ballast discharged. In the 1990's, 

 Long Island Sound, Chesapeake Bay, the Gulf of Mexico, including 

 the New Orleans Delta, are all thus additional high profile sites 

 facing risk of new invasions. 



It is critical to emphasize that no coastal sites, however, are 

 immune to invasions. The lesson of the zebra mussel teaches us 

 that everything that could be here by now is not here by now. 



There are things that can be done. They are not easy. They are 

 not simple. One cannot, quote, just, unquote, heat the water or ul- 

 traviolet the water or filter the water. For most ships, at most 

 times, these options simply do not exist without major refitting, 

 nor do we know their effectiveness. 



Ballast exchange, the release of original ballast water and the 

 uptake of new ballast water in^ mid ocean is a necessary critical 

 procedure, but there are many operational problems with such ex- 

 changes and evidence indicates that exchange is not efficient 

 enough to protect America's salt water coasts. 



It is now absolutely critical to undertake field trials of the prom- 

 ising technologies and other management options identified in the 

 shipping study; to undertake studies of vessel retrofit and to under- 

 take studies of new vessel design. The ghost of Christmas future 

 surely includes new zebra mussels if we do not move forward with 

 ballast control. 



Exotic species threaten every aspect of our economy, our lives, 

 and the environment. A single species can cause billions of dollars 

 in damage, destroy entire economies, have critical effects on biodi- 

 versity, and push endangered species over the brink into extinc- 



