solely on control measures. Incorporating additional strategies and climate change 
considerations into current control strategies could improve the Plan’s effectiveness. 
B.22.4.1. Leadership and Coordination 
The Management Plan lacks leadership and coordination strategies to engage its 
neighbors on the East Coast. Coordination with bordering states, especially those to the south, 
could help state staff understand what species may be moving north as temperatures rise. 
Climate change also could make coastal waters warmer, which would affect which AIS can 
establish and spread. Communicating with neighboring states will allow South Carolina to 
prepare for these potential new AIS rather than respond once they are already established. 
B.22.4.2. Prevention 
The Management Plan does not include prevention strategies. Because climate change 
will alter habitats and affect both natural and human-induced methods of introduction, 
prevention strategies that incorporate climate change concerns can help to protect the state’s 
water bodies against new AIS introductions. 
B.22.4.3. Early Detection/Rapid Response, Control, and Management 
Given that climate change will affect sea level rise, coastal erosion, depletion of water 
quality, and trends in the nutrient cycle in most of South Carolina’s aquatic habitats, the 
Management Plan’s control strategies will need to take these changes into account to ensure they 
remain effective. The Plan should also be expanded to incorporate other types of AIS, and the 
effect climate change may have on them and their control strategies. Early detection/ rapid 
response activities should be targeted on new pathways and AIS predicted to become problems 
under changing conditions. 
B.22.4.4. Research 
Any research on control strategies should incorporate climate change considerations. 
Climate change could affect control methods, particularly biocontrol, potentially reducing their 
effectiveness or causing biocontrol agents themselves to become invasive. 
B-76 
