Building New Barriers?

?

From January, 1996 (Update #26)

A small group of state and federal agencies and Great Lakes organizations recently explored alternatives to prevent the transfer of exotic species from the Great Lakes to inland water systems. The Nov. 20 meeting, "Introduction Pathway of Exotics to Inland Waters of the U. S. Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal," was sponsored by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers-Chicago District. Zebra mussels originally gained access to many U.S. inland waterways through the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal connection between Lake Michigan and the Mississippi basin. Major conference concerns included identifying a barrier that would stop nuisance species such as ruffe, round goby and zebra mussels from reaching inland waters, and controlling the spread to the Illinois River. Eurasian ruffe is expected to make its way inland unless barriers are erected to block its movement. Discussions included adding exotic species control devices to the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal system. Attendees also noted that the Chicago Sanitary and Ship Canal poses a hazard by allowing non-native species (such as nonindigenous zooplankton) to enter the Great Lakes. For further information contact Jay Troxel, Aquatic Nuisance Species Coordinator for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, phone, (703) 358-1718. - Robin Goettel, Illinois-Indiana Sea Grant.

ID: 199601-7.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.