Invasive marine organisms

[Caio Carvalho]

Hi, I'm doing a work about the international trade of animals and it consequences. I'll specificly talk about invasive marine organisms. And I'd like to know if anyone knows anything about it and where I can find some research.
Ow, I'm a Law student, so if the information talks about the legal terms, it would be better.

Thanks, Caio.

 

[ocellaris123]

Check out Caulerpa algae and San Diego. A quick google search should give you all the info you need

 

[Beaun]

Caulerpa and Lionfish are two of the bigger invasives that have been traced back to trade. The majority of invasives have been linked to accidental ship transport and ballast water.

 

[KarlBob]

The majority of invasives have been linked to accidental ship transport and ballast water.

I'd say "vast majority" rather than just "majority".

A quick Google search also brought up escapees from aquaculture facilities as an impact from another form of international trade, as opposed to the ornamental (aquarium) trade.

If you want legal minutiae, try .gov sites, and a law school library. The USDA National Agricultural Library has a section on aquatic (and marine) invasive species, complete with citations of various state and federal laws, international law, and international agreements.

 

[GreshamH]

Caulerpa and Lionfish are two of the bigger invasives that have been traced back to trade. The majority of invasives have been linked to accidental ship transport and ballast water.

Actually both are mere speculations, but don't take that as me saying the trade doesn't contribute. I live in near a bay that is largely taken over by invasives mainly from ballast discharge as non are aquarium critters.


http://www.sccat.net/ should be able to assist on the Caularpa issue.

 

[Caio Carvalho]

Thank you all! I'll google about it, and check the sites you sent!

Caio.

 

[greenbean36191]

It's a lot more than just speculation.

In the case of the lionfish, genetic tests have confirmed that the entire Atlantic population traces its roots to about 6 females (and an unknown number of males), all from one small region in Indonesia. If these fish were brought in by ballast water it would be the first case of ANY scorpionfish becoming established anywhere in the world through a ballast water introduction in the entire history of shipping. Previously, there are only 3 other cases of single individual scorpionfish being transported via ballast water. It's a rare event. The chances of introducing not one, but 6 females, or larvae from 6 females, all from the same place, to a single location (and nowhere else in the world) at around the same time, are unfathomably low. Ballast water introduction is simply not a plausable explanation.

However, we know that same part of Indonesia where these fish came from is one of the world's biggest exporters of aquarium fish. We also know that around 6 lionfish are known to have escaped into Biscayne Bay in 1992, probably all from Indonesia. By the early 2000s, lions were established all the way up the East Coast, but no further south than Miami. Given the direction of the currents, that suggests Miami as the point of introduction. There are known aquarium introductions and they fit the evidence neatly as the source of introduction, whereas ballast water doesn't.

The first Caulerpa infestation was found directly adjacent to the Monaco aquarium and genetic tests have since confirmed that the Mediterranean algae is identical to the variety found in the Monaco Aquarium and the Stuttgart Zoo (where the Monaco aquarium got their Caulerpa. That genotype is not found anywhere in nature.

 

[billsreef]

We also know that around 6 lionfish are known to have escaped into Biscayne Bay in 1992,

Check into that one some more. My understanding is that story has never actually been verified to a first hand account. Add to that the odds of 6 fish surviving a breaking aquarium in hurricane tossed waves, and than finding each other to reproduce. Another theory I've heard floated (that seems to make a lot of sense) is escapees of either fish or egg masses from Atlantis resorts aquarium. Nassau is also a location that fits the spread along the Gulf Stream currents as well as Florida does.

The first Caulerpa infestation was found directly adjacent to the Monaco aquarium and genetic tests have since confirmed that the Mediterranean algae is identical to the variety found in the Monaco Aquarium and the Stuttgart Zoo (where the Monaco aquarium got their Caulerpa. That genotype is not found anywhere in nature.

The interesting part of this one is that is so well known as being from a sole point source. It's a source that does not supply the aquarium trade. So that leaves trade among professional aquarists with the Monaco aquarium, or shipping to transport it outside the Mediterranean. Sadly this does wholly originate with a public aquarium source that should have known better.

 

[Threelittlefish]

I was recently snorkelling in the Exuma Islands in the Bahamas and saw the Lionfish on the reef. I have been snorkelling there since 2003 and never saw one til last year.

 

[Spanky22]

I dont know if you are only interested in salt water fish or fish transported for aquariums, but the introduction of the Snakehead fish to the waters of Northern Virginia and Maryland is an interesting one to look at. They were brought in from China to fish markets in the D.C. area and apparently some made their way into the local rivers where they have been destroying the native species.

 

[GreshamH]

It's a lot more than just speculation.

In the case of the lionfish, genetic tests have confirmed that the entire Atlantic population traces its roots to about 6 females (and an unknown number of males), all from one small region in Indonesia. If these fish were brought in by ballast water it would be the first case of ANY scorpionfish becoming established anywhere in the world through a ballast water introduction in the entire history of shipping. Previously, there are only 3 other cases of single individual scorpionfish being transported via ballast water. It's a rare event. The chances of introducing not one, but 6 females, or larvae from 6 females, all from the same place, to a single location (and nowhere else in the world) at around the same time, are unfathomably low. Ballast water introduction is simply not a plausable explanation.

However, we know that same part of Indonesia where these fish came from is one of the world's biggest exporters of aquarium fish. We also know that around 6 lionfish are known to have escaped into Biscayne Bay in 1992, probably all from Indonesia. By the early 2000s, lions were established all the way up the East Coast, but no further south than Miami. Given the direction of the currents, that suggests Miami as the point of introduction. There are known aquarium introductions and they fit the evidence neatly as the source of introduction, whereas ballast water doesn't.

The first Caulerpa infestation was found directly adjacent to the Monaco aquarium and genetic tests have since confirmed that the Mediterranean algae is identical to the variety found in the Monaco Aquarium and the Stuttgart Zoo (where the Monaco aquarium got their Caulerpa. That genotype is not found anywhere in nature.

Caularpa comment was in regards to the Cali, no the Med. case... I was replying the the San Diego comment And I really wasn't implying it was ballast water for either

BTW "fitting" the evidence is just a good way to say, well we can't prove it, but it sure looks like it to me given what we have seen.