species cost our country hundreds of millions, and I have been told, 

 Mr. Chairman, even billions of dollars a year. 



We clearly need to find ways to combat the continued introduc- 

 tion of unwanted species in our country, and I look forward to 

 hearing the views of the witnesses before us today about this at- 

 tempt to at least control this problems, and I thank the Chairman. 



Mr. LiPiNSKi. Thank you very much. 



Mr. Torkildsen, do you have an opening statement. 



Mr. Torkildsen. No, Mr. Chairman. Thank you, though. 



Mr. LiPiNSKi. Thank you. Thank you for your attendance here. 



[The statements of Mr. Manton and Mr. Fields follow:] 



Statement of Hon. Thomas J. Manton, a U.S. Representative from New York, 

 AND Chairman, Subcommittee on Fisheries Management 



Grood morning. About 10 years ago, a band of tiny hard-shelled immigrants ar- 

 rived in the United States and made their home in Lake St. Clair. No EMS agent 

 visited the colonies of these fingernail-sized moUusks, and they didn't check in at 

 Ellis Island. But they did not go unnoticed for long. Suddenly, these bivalves were 

 turning up in the Hudson River, clogging pipes as they drove out native species. 

 Now, from the Great Leikes to the Qiesapeake and on down the Mississippi, the 

 zebra mussels are making enemies as they grow and multiply. In fact, zebra mussels 

 have a bad name in 18 states. The Office of Technology Assessment estimates the 

 cost of adaptive meeisures to control these pests will be about $4 billion; emd in the 

 end, we will have only slowed the spread of these creatures, we will not have de- 

 stroyed them. 



But though many of us are all too familiar with the zebra mussel problem, they 

 are onW one tjrpe of aquatic nuisance. Other species such as the Sea Lamprey, the 

 Asian Clam, and now the European River Ruffe have invaded the U.S. in the same 

 manner as the mussels — primarily through the transfer of ships' ballast water. 

 Promising technologies to cleanse ballast water give us hope to deter the spread of 

 these foreign creatures. 



I must commend the Great Lakes Task Force for their efforts in developing an 

 appropriate response to these aquatic nuisances. Also, I recognize the initiative of 

 Chairman Lipinski for sponsoring this legislation before us today. Hopefully, we can 

 continue to work to arrest these invaders already on our shores and to prevent the 

 introduction of new species. 



Statement of Hon. Jack Fields, a U.S. Representative from Texas, and 

 Ranking Minority Member, Committee on Merchant Marine and Fisheries 



Mr. Chairman, the problems created by aquatic nuisance species first came to 

 light in the mid-1980's in the Great Lakes. The Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and 

 Control Act of 1990 was enacted to respond to this problem. Under this Act, the 

 Coast Guard established voluntary bedlast water exchange requirements for the 

 Great Lakes that became mandatory on April 8, 1993. Alternatives to current bal- 

 last water exchange practices are also authorized under the Act. 



I will be interested in the testimony from today's witnesses on the need for Feder- 

 al expenditures to test alternative technologies for bgdlast water exchange. If a spe- 

 cific alternative technology is indeed promising, I think that private dollars should 

 be available to fund studies and tests to develop the technology. I do agree, however, 

 that we should encourage private groups, including vessel owners, to adopt an active 

 role in aquatic non-indigenous species prevention smd control, to prevent the spread 

 of these species to waterways across the nation. 



Thank you, Mr. Chairman. 



Mr. Lipinski. I will now introduce the panelists here. We have 

 Ms. Kate Kimball, who is the Deputy Assistant Secretary for 

 Oceans and Atmospheres. I understand she is accompanied by Mr. 

 Gary B. Edwards, Assistant Director for Fisheries, U.S. Fish and 

 Wildlife Service, Cochair of the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task 

 Force, and they are from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric 

 Administration. We have Dr. Jim Carlton, from Williams College, 



