LITTLE CRITTERS. BIG HEADACHE

摘要

The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has called "invasive marine species one of the four greatest threats to the world's oceans." These microscopic waterborne invaders are carried from one ecosystem to another via ship's ballast water, as well as through biofouling on a ship's hull. That's why the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, adopted in 2004, requires ships to clean their ballast water through various technologies and best management practices to prevent the transfer of these little critters-such as mitten crabs, zebra mussels and toxic algae-which cause billions of dollars in environmental damage and wreck havoc with indigenous species and local fisheries. By one estimate, just seven specific invasive species are responsible for $10 billion in annual economic damage.