Great Lakes shippinG, trade, and aquatic invasive species

226 Pages·2008·1.1 MB·English

transportation research board
Great Lakes shipping, trade, and aquatic invasive species
special report 291
Since its opening in 1959, the St. Lawrence Seaway has provided a route into the Great Lakes
not only for trade but also unfortunately for aquatic invasive species (AIS), which have had
severe economic and environmental impacts on the region. Prevention measures have
been introduced by the governments of Canada and the United States, but reports of newly
discovered AIS continue, and only time will tell what impacts these species may have. Pressure s
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to solve the problem has even led to proposals that the seaway be closed. At the request of e
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the Great Lakes Protection Fund, the National Research Council assembled a committee of a
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experts to identify and explore options that would both enhance the potential for global trade r
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in the Great Lakes region and eliminate further introductions of AIS from ships transiting the o
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St. Lawrence Seaway. The report concludes that trade should continue on the St. Lawrence t
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Seaway but with a more effective suite of prevention measures that evolves over time in 9
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response to lessons learned and new technologies.
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aLso of interest
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Water Transportation and Port Operations
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Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 2033, t
isbn 978-0-309-10460-9, 61 pages, 8.5 × 11, paperback, 2007, $45.00 L
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Inland Waterways; Ports and Channels; and the Marine Environment
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Transportation Research Record: Journal of the Transportation Research Board, No. 1909, s

isbn 0-309-09382-1, 107 pages, 8.5 × 11, paperback, 2005, $46.00 s
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The Marine Transportation System and the Federal Role: Measuring Performance, p
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Targeting Improvement
i
TRB Special Report 279, isbn 0-309-09452-6, 180 pages, 6 × 9, paperback, 2004, $24.00 n
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Nonnative Oysters in the Chesapeake Bay t
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National Research Council, National Academies Press, isbn 978-0-309-09052-0, 344 pages, 6 × 9,
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paperback, 2004, $54.00 d
e Great Lakes
Predicting Invasions of Nonindigenous Plants and Plant Pests , a
National Research Council, National Academies Press, isbn 978-0-309-08264-8, 198 pages, 6 × 9, n
d
hardback, 2002, $42.95 shippinG, trade,
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Stemming the Tide: Controlling Introductions of Nonindigenous Species by Ships’ Ballast Water u
National Research Council, National Academies Press, isbn 978-0-309-05537-6, 160 pages, 6 × 9, a
t and aquatic
hardback, 1996, $42.95
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invasive species
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isbn 978-0-309-11313-7
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transportation research board
special report 291
Great Lakes
shippinG, trade,
and aquatic
invasive species
Committee on the St. Lawrence Seaway: Options to Eliminate
Introduction of Nonindigenous Species into the Great Lakes, Phase 2
Transportation Research Board
Water Science and Technology Board
Transportation Research Board
Washington, D.C.
2008
www.TRB.org
Transportation Research Board Special Report 291
Subscriber Categories
Iplanning, administration, and environment
VIII freight transportation (multimodal)
IX marine transportation
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Copyright 2008 by the National Academy of Sciences. All rights reserved.
Printed in the United States of America.
NOTICE: The project that is the subject of this report was approved by the Governing
Board of the National Research Council, whose members are drawn from the councils
of the National Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the
Institute of Medicine. The members of the committee responsible for the report were
chosen for their special competencies and with regard for appropriate balance.
This report has been reviewed by a group other than the authors according to the
procedures approved by a Report Review Committee consisting of members of the Na-
tional Academy of Sciences, the National Academy of Engineering, and the Institute of
Medicine.
This report was sponsored by the Great Lakes Protection Fund.
Cover design by Beth Schlenoff, Beth Schlenoff Design.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
National Research Council (U.S.). Committee on the St. Lawrence Seaway: Options to
Eliminate Introduction of Nonindigenous Species into the Great Lakes, Phase 2.
Great Lakes shipping, trade, and aquatic invasive species / Committee on the St.
Lawrence Seaway: Options to Eliminate Introduction of Nonindigenous Species into
the Great Lakes, Phase 2, Transportation Research Board, Division on Earth and Life
Studies, National Research Council of the National Academies.
p. cm.—(Transportation Research Board special report ; 291)
Includes bibliographical references and index.
1. Nonindigenous aquatic pests—Control—Great Lakes (North America)
2. Discharge of ballast water—Environmental aspects—Great Lakes (North America)
3. Animal introduction—Great Lakes (North America)—Prevention. 4. Ballast
water—Purification—Great Lakes (North America) I. Title.
TD427.A68N38 2008
363.7'80977—dc22
2008025878
ISBN 978-0-309-11313-7
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Marine Board
Martha R. Grabowski,LeMoyne College, Cazenovia, New York, Chair
Malcolm MacKinnon III,MSCL, LLC, Alexandria, Virginia,
Vice Chair
Kenneth E. Arnold,KArnold Consulting, Inc., Houston, Texas
Michael S. Bruno,Stevens Institute of Technology, Hoboken,
New Jersey
Charles R. Cushing,C. R. Cushing and Co., Inc., New York
Larry L. Daggett,Waterway Simulation Technology, Inc., Vicksburg,
Mississippi
Robert A. Dalrymple,Johns Hopkins University,Baltimore, Maryland
Paul S. Fischbeck,Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh,
Pennsylvania
Stephen E. Flynn,Council on Foreign Relations, New York
Judith Hill Harris,Department of Transportation, Portland, Maine
John R. Headland,Moffatt & Nichol Engineers, New York
William E. Jenkins,SeaRiver Maritime, Inc., Houston, Texas
Robert E. Johnston,OSG Ship Management, Inc., New York
Ronald K. Kiss,Consultant, Rockville, Maryland
Robert C. North,North Star Maritime, Inc., Queenstown, Maryland
Patrick E. O’Connor,BPAmerica, Inc., Houston, Texas
Robert W. Portiss,Tulsa Port of Catoosa, Catoosa, Oklahoma
Jerry R. Schubel,Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach, California
Richard H. Vortmann,RHV Co., LLC, San Diego, California
John W. Waggoner,Hornblower Marine Services, New Albany,
Indiana
Transportation Research Board
2008 Executive Committee Officers
Debra L. Miller,Secretary, Kansas Department of Transportation,
Chair
Adib K. Kanafani,Cahill Professor of Civil Engineering, University of
California, Berkeley, Vice Chair
C. Michael Walton,Ernest H. Cockrell Centennial Chair in
Engineering, University of Texas, Austin (Past Chair, 1991),
Division Chair for NRC Oversight
Robert E. Skinner, Jr.,Transportation Research Board,
Executive Director
Division on Earth and Life Studies
Water Science and Technology Board
Claire Welty, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, Chair
Joan G. Ehrenfeld, Rutgers University, New Brunswick, New Jersey
Simon Gonzalez, National Autonomous University of Mexico
Charles N. Haas, Drexel University, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
James M. Hughes, Emory University, Atlanta, Georgia
Theodore L. Hullar, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York
Kimberly L. Jones, Howard University, Washington, D.C.
G. Tracy Mehan III, Cadmus Group, Inc., Arlington, Virginia
James Mitchell, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg
David Moreau, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill
Leonard Shabman, Resources for the Future, Washington, D.C.
Donald I. Siegel, Syracuse University, New York
Soroosh Sorooshian, University of California, Irvine
Hame M. Watt, Independent consultant, Washington, D.C.
James L. Wescoat, Jr., University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign
Garret P. Westerhoff, Malcolm Pirnie, New York

Committee on the St.Lawrence Seaway:
Options to Eliminate Introduction of
Nonindigenous Species into the Great Lakes,Phase 2
Jerry R. Schubel,Chair,Aquarium of the Pacific, Long Beach,
California
Richard M. Anderson,Duke University, Durham, North Carolina
Stephen W. Fuller,Texas A&M University, College Station
Trevor D. Heaver,University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada
(emeritus)
Geoffrey J. D. Hewings,University of Illinois, Urbana–Champaign
Philip T. Jenkins,Philip T. Jenkins and Associates, Ltd., Fonthill,
Ontario, Canada
Hugh J. MacIsaac,University of Windsor, Ontario, Canada
Steven W. Popper,Rand Corporation, Santa Monica, California
Frank H. Quinn,Consultant, Tecumseh, Michigan
Thomas D. Waite,Florida Institute of Technology, Melbourne
M. Gordon Wolman,Johns Hopkins University, Baltimore, Maryland
Joy B. Zedler,University of Wisconsin, Madison
Ann P. Zimmerman,University of Toronto, Ontario, Canada
National Research Council Staff
Jill Wilson,Study Director, Transportation Research Board
Stephen R. Godwin,Director, Studies and Special Programs,
Transportation Research Board
Lauren Alexander,Senior Program Officer, Water Science and
Technology Board, Division on Earth and Life Studies
Amelia B. Mathis,Administrative Assistant, Transportation Research
Board

Preface
On June 26, 1959, Queen Elizabeth II and President Eisenhower
officially opened the St. Lawrence Seaway, a series of locks and
canals providing a navigation route into the North American
heartland for deep-draft vessels coming from the Atlantic Ocean
and beyond. Almost 50 years later, the seaway, which is managed
and operated jointly by Canada and the United States, provides a
route into and out of the Great Lakes for cargoes such as grain, iron
ore, and steel. Between 1997 and 2006, an average of 33.5 million
metric tons (tonnes) of cargo moved each year through the
Montreal–Lake Ontario section of the seaway, which links the
lower St. Lawrence River and Lake Ontario.
When the seaway was constructed, it was seen as offering impor-
tant economic benefits for Canada and the United States through
enhanced navigation and associated trade, as well as the generation
of much-needed electricity by the associated Moses–Saunders hy-
droelectric power station. An additional effect of opening up a
route into the Great Lakes for international shipping did not at-
tract attention until much later. The rapid spread throughout the
Great Lakes of the European zebra mussel, discovered in Lake St.
Clair in 1988, drew public attention to the fact that the seaway pro-
vides a route into the North American heartland not only for ships
but also for potentially troublesome stowaways—namely, aquatic
invasive species (AIS) inadvertently taken aboard in ballast water
at previous ports of call.
In addition to the zebra mussel, invaders such as the Eurasian
ruffe, round goby, and quagga mussel are all thought to have
entered the Great Lakes in the ballast water of ships. Held in a
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