71 



9. 

 lif* cyclas is confined to accessibla araas. Control prograns for 

 organisBs lika zebra nussels or ruffe, if ever feasible, will be 

 enormously expensive and require a level of political will that ha«i>^ 

 not been recently denonstrated for the sea lamprey. 



Thus, with the exception of sea lamprey, the solution for 

 dealing with ecological and economic nonindigenous species may not 

 be to base future national strategies on control. Oxir record is 

 not impressive in that area. Likewise, we will spend billions to 

 prevent water use losses from zebra mussels and could lose billions 

 in combined fishery benefits from combined impacts from zebra 

 mussels and ruffe. Therefore, as the Ballast Control Act 

 recommends, we must expeditiously invest wisely in research on how 

 to prevent the introduction of new organisms from ballast 

 discharge. Those new organisms may even pose a more devastating 

 and costly threat to our aquatic resources than the losses to be 

 absorbed from the recent exotic species introductions. 



Mr. Chairman, I thank you personally and on behalf of my 

 agency and the people of the State of New York for the opportunity 

 to give ovur views on this important legislation. 



