Congress to Loosen Ballast Water Regs

Those of us in the vicinity of Lake St. Clair have heard plenty about ballast water and invasive species. A plan in Congress backed by cargo shippers would create gaping holes in the regulation of ballast water in U.S. waterways, opening the door to more invasive species like zebra and quagga mussels. John Flesher wrote for AP today (May 24, 2016):

The proposal was tucked into a $602 billion defense bill that the House passed last week, the latest twist in a longstanding struggle over how to handle water that ships carry in huge tanks during overseas voyages. Ballast provides stability in rough seas but harbors fish, plants and even viruses, which find new homes when vessels discharge the water in distant ports. Some multiply rapidly, out-compete native species for food and spread disease.

The debate focuses on how extensively ship operators should be required to treat ballast water to kill as many organisms as possible before the water is released…

http://abcnews.go.com/US/wireStory/house-measure-supports-shippers-ballast-water-dumping-39336860

This is one more example of Congress favoring special interests over the public interest.

(3) Lake St. Clair Delta acts as Native Mussel Sanctuary

--- third and last in a series ---

In The Voice, October 2, 2014, Jim Bloch wrote a story titled, “Written off as doomed, native mussels survive zebra mussel invasion.” Excerpts:

“The causes of the decline and extinction of fresh water mussels are among the same conditions that led the St. Clair River to be classified as an environmental area of concern in 1985: Habitat destruction, pollution, commercial exploitation and invasive species.

Lake St. Clair and delta

“In the case of the Great Lakes, invasive species in the form of zebra mussels and quagga mussels came close to wiping out native mussels, already in a perilous state when the invaders arrived in the late 1980s and early 1990s.

“ ‘Come the late 1980s and early 1990s, all the native mussel populations crashed in Lake St. Clair, Lake Erie and the Great Lakes in general,’ said [Dr. David T.] Zanatta.”

“Average density of native mussels before the arrival of zebra mussels was two per square meter in Lake St. Clair. By 1990, zebra mussel density was at 1,600 per square meter.”

“By 1994, there were almost no native mussels left in the lake, with zebra now at 3,000+ per square meter.”

“ ‘But there was reason for hope,’ said Zanatta. ‘Remnant populations of native mussels were beginning to be found in coastal wetlands in western Lake Erie in the late 1990s.’ ”

"In addition, zebra mussel populations started showing dramatic declines between 1994 and 2001 in Lake St. Clair, even though their sheer numbers remained staggering."

“ ‘In my master’s work, we found that there was a large native mussel refuge in the St. Clair Delta,’ said Zanatta, referring to samplings he participated in 1999-2001.”

“...’There are 37 species known historically from Lake St. Clair. We’ve recorded 22 species actually in the lake in the last decade despite all sorts of pretty negative impacts.’ ”

“In expanded research funded through the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative, Zanatta found that the St. Clair Delta and western Lake Erie ‘were the most healthy areas of the lakes in terms of native mussel abundances.’ “

http://www.voicenews.com/articles/2014/10/02/news/doc542d9541162c0893321344.txt

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From the abstract of Distribution of native mussel (unionidae) assemblages in coastal areas of Lake Erie, Lake St. Clair, and connecting channels, twenty-five years after a dreissenid invasion, a journal article by David T. Zanatta, et al. published in 2015 (excerpts):

“Despite the invasion, unionids have survived in several areas in the presence of dreissenid mussels.”

Thompson Bay, Presque Isle, Pennsylvania

“We...documented species abundance and diversity in coastal areas of lakes St. Clair and Erie. The highest-quality assemblages of native mussels (densities, richness, and diversity) appear to be concentrated in the St. Clair delta, where abundance continues to decline, as well as in in [sic] Thompson Bay of Presque Isle [Pennsylvania] in Lake Erie and in just a few coastal wetlands and drowned river-mouths in the western basin of Lake Erie. The discovery of several new refuge areas suggests that unionids have a broader distribution within the region than previously thought.”

https://pubs.er.usgs.gov/publication/70160708

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From the abstract of Characteristics of a refuge for native freshwater mussels (Bivalvia: Unionidae) in Lake St. Clair, a journal article by D.J. McGoldrick, et al., last updated January 29, 2016 (excerpts):

“The Lake St. Clair delta ...  provides an important refuge for native freshwater mussels (Unionidae) wherein 22 of the ~35 historical species co-occur with invasive dreissenids.”

“Zebra mussel infestation of unionids in the delta appears to be mitigated by dominant offshore currents, which limit densities of zebra mussel veligers [planktonic larvae] in nearshore compared to offshore waters …”

“Glycogen concentrations in the tissues of a common and widespread species in the delta (Lampsilis siliquoidea) suggest that zebra mussels may be adversely affecting physiological condition of unionids in a portion of the Lake St. Clair delta. Physiological condition and community structure of unionids within the delta may also be influenced by differences in food quantity and quality resulting from the uneven distribution of water flowing from the St. Clair River. The delta likely supports the largest living unionid [?] includes several species that have been listed as Endangered or Threatened in Canada and/or the state of Michigan, making it an important refuge for the conservation of native unionids.”

http://www.umesc.usgs.gov/documents/publications/2009/newton_b_2009.html

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Round Goby

Why no mention, you might ask, of quagga mussels? Don’t know. Maybe Lake St. Clair and the delta are too warm and shallow for them.

And why haven’t the zebras wiped out the bottom of the food web in Lake St. Clair, as the quaggas have done in lakes Huron and Michigan? Possibly the abundance of nutrients like phosphorus in Lake St. Clair (and western Lake Erie) can produce phytoplankton such as algae faster than the zebras can devour it, leaving plenty for tiny animals that become food for an invasive fish, the round goby, now thriving and the favorite prey of some of the popular game fish in Lake St. Clair.

In any event, this saga is far from over. The balance will work out over decades, altered from time to time by further agents of change.

(2) Mussel Invasion, Alewife Collapse Doomed Salmon in Lake Huron

Alewife, a herring, average 10 inches in length

-- second in a series --

Researchers have found that Lake Huron cannot provide a salmon sport fishery any longer because the alewife population on which the salmon fed has crashed. It seems likely that the same sequence is repeating itself in Lake Michigan.*

The best course now may be to restore native species like lake herring, lake trout, walleye and whitefish.

Scientists studying the subject are Sara Adlerstein-Gonzalez, Yu-Chun Kao and Edward Rutherford.

Alewives, a herring species, invaded the Great Lakes 60 or 70 years ago through the Welland Canal. They became the main food source for the salmon, steelhead, brown trout and hybrids that have been introduced in Lake Michigan and Lake Huron over the past 50 years.

The new study is the first attempt to use a food-web modeling approach to assess the various factors behind the 2003 collapse of Lake Huron alewives and the implications for future fish populations there. The total weight or ‘biomass’ of alewives in Lake Huron plunged by more than 90 percent between 2002 and 2003, and the exact causes of the collapse are still debated by anglers and biologists.

Some researchers have suggested the alewife collapse was mainly due to too much predation by Chinook salmon and native lake trout. Others say it likely resulted from a drop in food availability tied to the explosive spread of zebra and quagga mussels starting in the late 1980s.

The computer simulations in the new study show that the collapse was caused by a combination of predation and food limitation—and that predation alone would not have caused the crash. The spread of the non-native mussels, coupled with declining levels of the nutrient phosphorus entering the lake from rivers and streams, were essential factors, according to the new study.

http://ns.umich.edu/new/releases/23602-lake-huron-s-chinook-salmon-fishery-unlikely-to-recover-due-to-ongoing-food-shortage

Predation peaked in the 1980s, then remained constant until the alewife population crashed in 2003. Filter feeding by staggering numbers of invasive mussels reduced nutrients, including phosphorus, which had already been depleted in farm runoff as a result of improved agricultural practices.
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*  UPDATE:

[Chinook] Salmon are declining at an alarming rate [in Lake Michigan] according to biologists and the Department of Natural Resources.

“Because there’s less prey, the capacity to support the current Chinook salmon just isn’t there,” [Jay] Wesley said. “So one way we can address that is to lower the Chinook stocking.  That will help reduce predation pressure on the remaining prey.”

As for invasive mussels, biologists are hoping they’ll reach a peak, allowing algae and plankton back into the water…

http://fox17online.com/2016/04/25/dnr-lake-michigan-salmon-are-declining-at-an-alarming-rate/

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Garble Genes to Destroy Invasive Species?

Scientists are exploring the possibility that gene drives can be used to annihilate invasive species.

How far would you be willing to go to eradicate invasive species like sea lamprey, Asian carp or alien mussels?

Sea Lampreys on Lake Trout - Wikipedia

Entering the Great Lakes through canals built in the 19th century, the sea lamprey had become abundant in the upper lakes by the 1930s and ‘40s. Lampreys are blood suckers, attaching themselves to native fish species, draining and killing them. In Lake Superior, lake trout and whitefish had been abundant and supported an important commercial fishery, but were nearly wiped out by sea lamprey. Efforts to control sea lamprey have had limited success, but are expensive to maintain.

Various invasive species of Asian carp have made their way up the Mississippi River system to within a few miles of the Great Lakes. Some species are voracious filter feeders, consuming great quantities of the plankton on which many native species in the food web depend.

“In some areas of the Mississippi River basin where these fish have steadily taken over, they now comprise up to 97% of fish biomass. Today, commercial fishers in the Illinois River regularly catch more than 25,000 pounds of Asian carp each day, an alarmingly large amount of fish.”

http://www.glfc.org/eforum/article4.html

Zebra and the more dominant quagga mussels arrived in the Great Lakes through the St. Lawrence Seaway in ballast water discharged by ocean-going ships. They have spread throughout most of the Mississippi watershed and much of western North America. Their reproduction rate is prolific, creating dense populations. The alien mussels filter plankton and refuse at the bottom of the water column, altering lake ecology, out-competing and suffocating native clams and mussels, which are disappearing rapidly. Zebras are thought to be vectors for botulism, which has been killing thousands upon thousands of birds that feed on the mussels.

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A gene drive is the cellular apparatus that assures inheritance of a genetic trait. Scientists are exploring the possibility that gene drives can be used to annihilate invasive species. But the risks of such a capability are sobering. Species could be extinguished worldwide. The potential of such technology in warfare is even scarier.

http://www.statnews.com/2015/11/17/gene-drive-hijack-evolution/

The theory has roots in the work of Charles Darwin (1809-1882), Gregor Mendel (1822-1884) and Austin Burt (2003, http://rspb.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/270/1518/921 ).

In 2014, Harvard biologist Kevin Esvelt read about the remarkable new technique to alter genes. Esvelt and a group of other biologists explored the theory of gene drive and described a technique to build drives.  http://elifesciences.org/content/early/2014/07/15/eLife.03401

The research of Valentino Gantz and Ethan Bier that had drawn Esvelt’s attention was published in 2015. http://www.sciencemag.org/content/348/6233/442

Hard to say where this science is going, but it’s not going away.

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Meeting Notice

Meeting announcement by Erika Jensen  ejensen@glc.org

The 59th Annual Conference on Great Lakes Research will be held June 6 - 10, 2016  at the University of Guelph in Guelph, Ontario.  Forty six sessions have been proposed to encompass the theme Great Lakes Solutions: Integrating Across Disciplines & Scales.

All abstracts must be submitted online by January 29, 2016.   The deadline will not be extended.

Questions?

Contact conference program chair Paul Sibley, University of Guelph, (519) 824-4120 ext. 52707 or at 16programchair@iaglr.org

Invasive Mussel Collaborative webinar July 22

I wrote earlier that initial trials to confirm the specific effect on invasive zebra and quagga mussels of the bacterium in the pesticide Zequanox were successful.  Also, it was determined that dead bacteria were just as effective as live ones in killing the mussels.  

Dr. Daniel Molloy, who discovered this lethal quality, concluded that toxins in the bacteria, not infection, kill the mussels, lowering even more the potential risk to other species.  Researchers    anticipated that open-water application would be effective.

Zequanox was successfully applied, in combination with two toxic chemicals, to the invasive mussel infestation of Christmas Lake in Minnesota.

So the question occurred to me, why don’t we use Zequanox to clean the alien mussels out of Lake St. Clair?

Well, the simple answer is that the cost would be too high.

According to Susan Cosier in onEarth magazine (May 2015), Dr. Molloy says, “... we need something that gets into every nook and cranny of the Great Lakes—and something that doesn’t cost a fortune to use repeatedly.”  Cosier continues, “Applying the pesticide to 3,000 square feet of Minnesota’s Christmas Lake cost $6,800. Lake Erie, by comparison, has a surface area of 9,990 square miles.”

Where do we go from here?  That is the question being addressed by the Invasive Mussel Collaborative, a joint undertaking by the U.S. Geological Survey, Great Lakes Commission, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, and Great Lakes Fishery Commission.

The Collaborative is presenting a webinar, “Lessons learned from recent open-water applications and field trials of Zequanox®” on July 22, 2015 10:00-11:30 am Eastern.

Register now to reserve your spot!

The webinar will feature presentations from representatives of the following agencies:

• Michigan Department of Environmental Quality
• Minnesota Department of Natural Resources
• U.S. Geological Survey

Eradicate Alien Mussels in Lake St. Clair

Let’s annihilate zebra and quagga mussels in Lake St. Clair.

It is believed that zebra mussels traveled from the Black Sea region to the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ships.  The mussels were found in Lake St. Clair in 1988 and spread throughout the Great Lakes, the Mississippi Valley and eventually most of the contiguous United States.

 Quagga mussels, cousins of the zebra, were first seen in the Erie Canal in 1989, although not correctly identified until 1991.

Both species have dramatically altered the ecosystems where they have established themselves. Both are prolific and have fewer natural predators in North America than in Europe.  Zebras in particular like to settle together in large numbers on hard surfaces like native clams and mussels, killing them, and on/in man made objects such as the water intake pipes of power plants and municipal water facilities, clogging them.

Before the arrival of zebra mussels, there were approximately 40 species of native mussels in the Detroit River and approximately 20 in Lake St. Clair. Nalepa et al. (1996) collected Unionidae [native mussels] from 29 sites in Lake St. Clair in 1986 (before the first zebra mussels were found), 1990, 1992, and 1994. They collected 281 (18 species), 248 (17 species), 99 (12 species), and 6 (5 species) native mussels in the four years, respectively, which shows the devastating impact to native mussels.
 

http://www.epa.gov/med/grosseile_site/indicators/sos/dreissena.pdf
 

Seven years ago, while researching zebras, I found that Dr. Daniel Molloy in 2001 had discovered that a common bacterium, pseudomonas fluorescens strain CLO145, is lethal to the zebra, but otherwise harmless.

In May, 2008, I passed the story along to Michigan Public Radio, which broadcast an interview with Dr. Molloy.

Subsequently, Molloy arranged for Marrone Bio Innovations in California to develop a commercial product.  Marrone named the product Zequanox and conducted further trials.  

With the assistance of U.S. Senator Debbie Stabenow, Marrone built a production facility in Bangor, Michigan.

On November 30, 2010, I sent the following to Chuck Frederick, Editor of the Duluth News Tribune, who published this as a letter to the editor:

Mr. Frederick:

On Monday, November 29, 2010, the News Tribune ran an article about the possibility that zebra and quagga mussels were carriers of the botulism that is killing thousands of water birds in the Great Lakes region each year.

Happily, a means of controlling the invasive mussels may be at hand.

About 10 years ago, Dr. Daniel Molloy of the New York State Museum discovered a mutation of a common bacterium that kills zebra and quagga mussels but is harmless to other organisms.

Commercial production of the biopesticide was problematic because the bacteria had a short shelf life. That problem was overcome, but widespread, open-water application was thought not to be effective.

Trials to confirm the specific effect of the bacterium on the alien mussels were successful. In addition, it was discovered that dead bacteria were just as lethal as live ones. As a result, Molloy and others have concluded that toxins in the bacteria, not infection, kill the mussels, lowering even more the potential risk to other species.  It is anticipated now that open-water application will be effective.

The biopesticide is expected to be available in commercial quantities sometime in 2011.

http://www.adirondackalmanack.com/2010/11/state-museum-enters-invasives-fight.html

Jim Lang

(etc.)

After my letter was published, some citizen groups in Minnesota expressed interest in Zequanox. Studies were begun.

(Updated Nov. 5, 2014) -- Field testing wrapped up in late October, and the USGS is beginning to analyze the data...The USGS received a grant from the state of Minnesota to study the treatment. After testing it in a lab environment in northwestern Minnesota last year [2013], the USGS has received appropriate permission from all state and federal agencies to apply an experimental treatment of Zequanox in Lake Minnetonka.

http://www.minnehahacreek.org/project/usgs-zebra-mussel-zequanox-study

One recent experiment seems to have turned out well.

Initial searches indicate a three-step treatment of Christmas Lake in Shorewood for zebra mussels has been effective, according to the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources…

Zequanox, a natural substance highly selective to zebra and quagga mussels, was first applied to the treatment area in September [2014]. That application was followed by a [toxic] copper treatment of EarthTec QZ in October and November. In December, a contractor working with the DNR injected 1,000 pounds of [toxic] potassium chloride (potash) under the ice near the public boat access. It was only the third time potash was used for zebra mussel control in the United States. The applications of potash and EarthTec QZ were experimental off-label uses requiring special emergency permission…

http://news.dnr.state.mn.us/2015/04/20/divers-confirm-effective-treatment-of-christmas-lake-zebra-mussels/

Why don’t we muster state and federal resources to attack invasive zebra and quagga mussels in Lake St. Clair?

UPDATE

Excerpts from onEarth magazine, “Flexing Their Mussel”  by Susan Cosier,  May 2015:

Even as mussel populations begin to contract, scientists are looking to a pesticide to beat them back them further. Zequanox contains a patented bacterium that kills mussels by dissolving their digestive tracts and—this is key—only affects quagga and zebra mussels. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency recently issued a permit for lake managers to release the powdery mixture into open water. Alas…it probably won’t work.

Zequanox inventor Daniel Molloy, an aquatic invasive-species biologist, says that treating an entire lake with this stuff wouldn’t be that effective. Instead, he says we need something that gets into every nook and cranny of the Great Lakes—and something that doesn’t cost a fortune to use repeatedly. (Applying the pesticide to 3,000 square feet of Minnesota’s Christmas Lake cost $6,800. Lake Erie, by comparison, has a surface area of 9,990 square miles.)

“You need something that will work lakewide, and this requires a next-generation control agent, a live one,” says Molloy. A parasite. Molloy’s convinced he can find one—ideally one that’s safe for all except zebras and quaggas—but it could be a decade before he does. Scientists are also looking into ways to disrupt mussel spawning and biobullets, which would deliver a musselcide on the microparticles bivalves ingest. Those methods, however, are largely untested, and environmental groups, such as NRDC (disclosure), remain skeptical. In other words, solving this quagga quagmire is a long ways away.

http://www.onearth.org/earthwire/invasive-quagga-mussels-great-lakes