Protecting lakes

The U.S. Coast Guard has been taking comments in recent months on proposed national standards to halt the introduction of foreign species that can be detrimental to the ecosystem.

Strict requirements imposed on oceangoing vessels that have been transiting the St. Lawrence River and Great Lakes via the St. Lawrence Seaway are essential to protect native species and habitat.

More than 185 non-native species now make their home in the Great Lakes. They have caused billions of dollars in damage to municipal water systems and the environment, prompting demands to regulate the discharge of ships' ballast water, which has become a prime means of introducing the invasive organisms.

The unwanted species hitch rides in the ship's ballast, which is dumped when ships are in port. Some steps have been taken by the United States and Canada to contain the problem by requiring ships to exchange ballast water or rise empty tanks at sea, but some species survive the rinsing.

The Coast Guard has proposed additional national requirements on the release of ballast water. The plan would limit the number of invasive organisms in ballast water. Ships would have to adopt methods to kill most of the organisms, which still allow some to escape into the rivers, lakes and other inland waterways.

Those invasive species that survive could still be harmful to native fish and habitat and damaging to the economy.

The plan adopts a standard established by the International Maritime Commission. Environmentalists object to the standard as too weak and taking too long to implement.

Shippers say they want a national standard, which makes sense, but they also object to a process that may require them to invest in technology now and again later as standards become more stringent.

But strict standards are needed now based on available technology.