STATEMENT OF NICK RUSNAK, CAMPAIGN MANAGER, NATIONAL WILDLIFE FEDERATION’S ROCHESTER, NY, OFFICE
Mr. Rusnak: Thank you, Chairperson Boxer. My name is Nick Rusnak, and I am employed by the National Wildlife Federation in Rochester, New York. It is my job to protect and preserve Lake Ontario, but I also work on issues affecting the other Great Lakes and promote the region’s overall well-being.
I first want to thank the Committee for its proven leadership on environmental issues, including those involving the Great Lakes. NWF is grateful for your ongoing efforts to confront these significant challenges to our nation’s ecosystems head-on. I am confident that you will uphold these time-tested principles in your consideration of this Bill.
At present there are over 186 non-indigenous invasive species present in the Great Lakes. And with a new invasive species introduced every 28 weeks, they are arguably also the worst problem plaguing the lakes. Species like zebra and quagga mussels, introduced through the ballast water of shipping vessels from the Baltic region, have rapidly spread throughout the Great Lakes in less than 20 years. Their presence has decimated food webs in the Great Lakes. And the parasitic sea lamprey, although currently being combated with chemical controls, has similarly devastated the lakes’ commercial and recreational fisheries. The combined costs of invasive species are tremendous – over $5.7 billion annually.
The primary avenues of introduction for invasive species are the St. Lawrence Seaway from the east, and the Chicago River System from the west. Other canal systems, such as the Welland and Erie canals, facilitate the proliferation and spread of invasive species throughout the Great Lakes once introduced.
The recent passage of the Federal Ballast Water Prevention Act of 2011 demonstrates the hard line Congress has taken against the shipping industry for its responsibility in introducing invasive species to the lakes. I am extremely appreciative of your work on that law, but it only addresses part of the problem. The enormous threat presented by Asian carp and other species that stand to enter the lakes via the Chicago River System remain to be dealt with.
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