Zebra Mussels

MINNEAPOLIS - The U.S. Coast Guard says it must find new ways to keep foreign species out of the Great Lakes, conceding that its regulation of transoceanic ships since 1993 hasn't done the job. In a little-noticed announcement in the Federal Register this month, the Coast Guard confirmed what scientists have been documenting for years: Invasive species can be carried into the Great Lakes in the residual water and mud at the bottom of ships' ballast water...

THE MARYLAND General Assembly recently passed legislation requiring the state Department of Natural Resources to take additional steps before allowing the introduction of Asian oysters into the Chesapeake Bay. Those steps include performing more environmental impact studies, getting a recommendation from an independent advisory panel, submitting a report to the General Assembly and holding public hearings. As laudable as is this ambitious attempt to reach a conclusive position, there's a problem.

CHICAGO - The Bush administration laid out an ambitious plan yesterday to clean up and protect the Great Lakes, but even some of the president's allies consider the $20 billion price tag to be unrealistic. Led by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, a group of local, state, tribal and federal officials called for more aggressive efforts to clean up contaminated ports, fix aging sewer systems, block invasive species and improve the shoreline. The group, organized by an executive order President Bush signed in May 2004, urged Congress and the states to make the world's largest freshwater system a greater priority.

The Maryland Aquatic Resources Coalition is a volunteer organization representing more than 14,000 state sportsmen.MARC initially was formed to combat Baltimore City's surprise closure of Liberty, Prettyboy and Loch Raven reservoirs to boaters last year in response to zebra mussels infesting New York waters."

Preservationists who want a logging ban on city reservoir land argued Tuesday night with industry representatives who favor cutting trees under careful supervision.At issue at a public hearing at Loch Raven High School was a task force report on watershed management at three city-owned reservoirs: Loch Raven and Pretty Boy in Baltimore County, and Liberty, which straddles the border between Baltimore and Carroll counties. The report recommends that logging be phased out over five years, except for diseased or damaged trees that are a threat to safety.

A SMALL Crofton pond is ground zero for a biological invasion that could be disastrous. Someone dumped into the pond a nasty fish that eats everything in sight -- fish, frogs and even birds. The fish, the northern snakehead, can slither over land to other bodies of water and, unchecked by the predators of its native waters in China, might cause the extinction of a number of local species. A Maryland resident dumped two northern snakeheads into the pond more than two years ago because they no longer were wanted as pets, Department of Natural Resources police said.

This spring it is likely that fishing with live aquatic bait again will be permitted in Liberty, Prettyboy and Loch Raven reservoirs, which had been closed to the use of live bait for fear that contaminated bait might lead to zebra mussel infestation in Baltimore's water supply.A proposed regulation has been approved and forwarded by the Department of Natural Resources for implementation on Feb. 14, following a public hearing and an open period for public comment on the regulation.In order for live bait to be used in the reservoirs, it must be purchased from a dealer whose source of supply and holding equipment has been certified free of zebra mussels by the DNR.The regulation was formulated with the cooperation of the Department of Public Works and the Maryland Aquatic Resources Coalition.

Environmental police are moving today to poison a menacing colony of snakehead fish in an otherwise tranquil Crofton pond. Even if the predatory fish are wiped out, a larger struggle against invasive species will be far from won. Maryland faces uphill battles with dozens of destructive alien organisms. Multiflora rose, tree of heaven, Vietnamese stiltgrass, mile-a-minute, purple loosestrife, gypsy moths and garlic mustard might not seem as exciting as an air-breathing, ground-traveling fish that can grow to the size of a golf bag, but experts say they are changing the face of Maryland's landscape as they crowd out native wildlife.

It's a problem that's not older than dirt. It is dirt. Specifically, how you divvy up public dirt among all the folks who rely on it and like to play in it. Such is the case at Loch Raven Reservoir just north of the Baltimore Beltway, where competing interests are clashing. On the one hand, you have public officials charged with protecting the water supply for 1.8 million customers. On the other hand, you have thousands of outdoors lovers who revel in the recreational opportunities afforded by its 50 miles of shoreline and thousands of surrounding acres.

The Chesapeake Bay needs federal and even international help to prevent "invasions" by exotic fish, plants and parasites carried as stowaways aboard globe-trotting ships calling in Baltimore and Norfolk, Va., a new report says.Warning that visiting ships play "ecologic roulette" with the bay by discharging ballast water teeming with non-native organisms, committee of scientists, shipping agents and state and federal officials says an individual state like Maryland can do little to combat the threat.