I would like to briefly discuss three topic related to AIS and the Great Lakes: pathways other than ballast water; research; and monitoring.
I believe that when he sat before this committee, Dr. Ricciardi indicated that ballast water was not the only pathway for AIS to get into the Great Lakes. As we have done with the ballast water pathway, we need to better understand the relative risks and potential to control the introduction of AIS through these other pathways. These pathways include several, collectively known as organisms in trade. In order by volume, these are aquarium, live bait, live food, water garden, and biological supply house trades. Other pathways include authorized stocking, unauthorized stocking by private individuals, and secondary spread though canals such as the Welland Canal in Trent–Severn Waterway.
Our analysis has shown that introductions of non-native fishes through ballast water and authorized stocking have levelled off in the Great Lakes in the past several decades, whereas unauthorized introductions through trade are increasing. We are currently conducting risk assessments of these pathways to determine the relative risk of each of these pathways and the best approaches to minimize these risks. Ms. Cudmore will discuss risk assessment in more detail in her presentation.
In the Great Lakes, DFO carries out one to two AIS research projects per year. Since 2005, these projects have included improving the tools required to conduct risk assessments, including methods to predict establishment and impacts of potential AIS currently in a pathway, and a method of screening large numbers of species in a pathway such as the aquarium trade, which imports millions of individuals of over 2,000 fish species into Canada every year. Although only a very small fraction of those species may harm Canadian ecosystems if introduced into the wild, we need to develop tools to identify those few species, and develop regulations to minimize the release and subsequent impact of such species.
In 2006, DFO developed an AIS monitoring plan for central and arctic regions, including the Great Lakes. Based on this plan, DFO has since carried out one to two AIS monitoring projects per year. These projects have monitored for species, including Asian clam, bloody red shrimp, round goby, and tubenose goby, and pathways including the Trent–Severn Waterway, the Welland Canal, and in conjunction with other sampling in some of the Great Lakes action plan areas of concern. The purpose of monitoring is to better understand the current status of existing AIS and their use of pathways, and for early detection and rapid response. Monitoring of existing AIS and pathways can be used to minimize the spread of species, but monitoring for early detection and rapid response is much more effective in controlling AIS if early detection and rapid response plans are in place. In the Canadian Great Lakes, we are in the early stages of the development of such plans.