Thank you.
Shoreline development, episodically low water levels, as Mr. Sweetnam has described, and most especially the threats of invasive species are the really major threats. The prospect of Asian carp entering the Great Lakes through the Chicago channel and elsewhere is perhaps the most serious threat of causing changes in the entire food web. If we were to prioritize, that would be at the top.
We have a new annex to the Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement that has identified 12 different areas of concern or areas of remediation. There have been binational task forces formed that are addressing these according to very strict timelines, and I'm very confident that these will help prioritize and lead to strategies.
There are many efforts under way to speed restoration. In the U.S., we have the Great Lakes restoration initiative that's seen the investment of several hundreds of millions of dollars to deal with the greatest areas. Expenditures in Canada have been more modest but are still directed to specific risks. The Great Lakes nutrient initiative, which we hope will be matched by the province, is expected to have great effects.
The greatest threat I see, though, over the last five years has been a real lack in planning to assess the effectiveness of all this remediation. We've seen huge investment in repairs and trying to deal with things. What we seem to have lost at the same time, though, is the ability to communicate binationally. As Mr. Sweetnam mentioned, these efforts are binational. They work at much greater scales. What we've lost is the ability to travel, the ability to interact, and this is going to be absolutely essential.
If we're going to understand the effectiveness of these things, we have to know what things were like before, what they're like after, and what the basin-wide loads and restorations are. It's absolutely essential that we realize that the lakes and biota don't recognize political boundaries and that the processes are organized by the flow of materials from the watersheds and mixed into the lakes.
Consequently we need coordination and discussion among these different levels of government. Fiscal constraint and travel and communication restrictions have been very significant impediments to understanding how effective the initiatives are. I would really argue that the realignment of personnel and reorganization of departments, as well as these restrictions, have really led to impediments.
I'm very confident that with the new Great Lakes Water Quality Agreement, the assessment, and commitment to these task groups will lead to a re-establishment of those communications, and I really look forward to a reappearance of that lost dialogue.