1 - sectting the scene

Implementing the Ballast Water Management Convention - the EU Dimension, EMSA, Lisbon, November 2008 0

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Setting the Scene: The Problem of Aquatic Invasive

Species in Europe

Stephan GollaschGoConsult, Hamburg, Germany

><((((°>GoConsult

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Content

• Invaders per Region• Invasion Status• Case histories• Invasion Rate• Changes in Introduction Vectors• Summary


Regions considered• Seas of all EU Member states plus Norway,

non-EU Mediterranean Sea, Black Sea (approx.. >160,000 km coastline)

• Adjacent water bodies (lakes, estuaries etc.)• Temperature range from arctic to warm-

temperate conditions• Salinity range from freshwater to marine

conditions• Various habitats including rocky shores,

sandy beaches, mud flats


Overview• 1,032 non-indigenous species are known to

occur in the regions considered• The region with

the highest number of first recordsof invaders is the Mediterranean Sea

number %

Mediterranean Sea 662 46,8North Sea 230 16,2Atlantic coast 177 12,5Baltic Sea 170 12,0Black Sea 83 5,9Azores 25 1,8Irish waters & NW UK 51 3,6Arctic waters 18 1,3Total 1416 100,0

Region Total


Invaders per RegionInvasion status Number %Established 814 57,5Un-established 158 11,2Cryptogenic 67 4,7Extinct 11 0,8Unknown 366 25,8Total 1416 100,0

662

230

177

170

83

25

51

18


Source: Gollasch et al. in print

• black = hull fouling

• dark grey = aquaculture, stocking

• light grey = ballast water

• white = unclear

• square shaded = unknown

• dot shaded = other vectors

Alien Species inthe North Sea


0

50

100

150

200

1700

1725

1750

1775

1800

1825

1850

1875

1900

1925

1950

1975

2000

Decade

Num

ber

Timeline of Invasions in Europe


Dreissena polymorpha• Top scorer 1 (31 points)• Native range:

Ponto-Caspian• Likely vector:

hull fouling, ballast water• First record in

western Europe:1810s

Source: Sergej Olenin


Eriocheir sinensis• Top scorer 3 (23 points)• Spreads in the UK at a rate of up to 450 km

annually in recent years - now on the UK west coast• First mitten crab records from Ireland in 2006• More than 500 individuals were caught the

Guadalquivir estuary (Spain) in recent years• E. sinensis was found in the St. Lawrence estuary,

Canada and also in the Chesapeake Bay, USA. This species finding is of concern noting the negative impacts caused in Europe and along the west coast of the USA


Teredo navalis• Top scorer 4 (20 points)• Native range:

cryptogenic• Likely vector:

wooden objects,wooden hull fouling, ballast water

• First record in Europe:< 1730

Source: Marco Faasse


133,7

51,1

43,3

36,9

36,2

22,5

6,2

0 50 100 150

Irish Waters &NW-UK

Black Sea

Adriatic Sea

Baltic Sea

EU-Atlantic

North Sea

MediterraneanSea

Invasion rate

• Data since1950

• Max: every 6,2 weeksa new speciesin Med.

• Min: every 2.5 years inIrish&NW UK

• Mean: 0,9 years Number of weeks per invasion


Red = high number of impacting aliens.White = no data

Source: Molnar et al. 2008

Source: Nellemann et al. 2008


Relative Vector Importance

World

32,627,4 26,8

01020304050

fouling ballast aquaculture

[%]

EU

16,522,5

15,2

01020304050


[%]

North Sea

23,233,5

24,3

01020304050


German North Sea coast

32,4

48,6

25,7

01020304050


[%]


Bioinvaders and Ports

0

50

100

150

200

Arctic

waters

Azores

Irish w

aters

& NW U

KBlac

k Sea

Baltic

SeaAtla

ntic co

ast

North Sea

Medite

rrane

an Sea

Species introduced with ships

Major ports / port regions


Impact• Ecological (e.g. depression of native species,

predator-prey interactions, diseases, habitatmodifiction, food-web changes, ecosystemengineers)

• Economical (e.g. fisheries, aquaculture, tourism, water dependent industries, coastal erosion)

• Documented costs of alien species in Europe: 11.4 billion €/year (1.8 control, 9.6 damage)– fisheries & aquaculture >150 million/year

including lost revenue• Extrapolated costs: 19.1 billion €/year


What Can We Do About It?

• Ballast water treatment• Ballast water exchange at sea• Clean ship hulls• Apply quarantine measures for exotic

species in aquaculture use• Increase public awareness, especially for

pleasure craft, non-commercial fishing and hobby aquarists


Summary• 1,032 aquatic invaders in European Seas• Region with the highest number of invaders is

the Mediterranean Sea (662 species)• The invasion rate is increasing towards the

end of the last century• Ballast water, hull fouling and aquaculture are

the most important invasion vectors• Documented monetary impact annually

11.4 billion €/year (1.8 control, 9.6 damage)– fisheries & aquaculture >150 million/year incl.

lost revenue


Acknowledgements

• Data sources– Chad Hewitt, New Zealand– Keith Hayes, Australia– Yasuvo Fukuyo, Japan– Greg Ruiz, USA– Matej David, Slovenia – Sergej Olenin, Lithuania– Erkki Leppäkoski, Finland– Argyro Zenetos, Nikos Streftaris, Greece– GloBallast Programme– ICES WGITMO & ICES/IOC/IMO WGBOSV

DeliveringAlien InvasiveSpeciesInventories forEurope


><((((°>Thank you very much

for your attention !

[email protected]

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