Amy Elizabeth Hueber

Aquatic invasive species, such as zebra mussels and round gobies, have permanently and drastically harmed the Great Lakes - St. Lawrence River environment. More than 65% of the aquatic invasive species found in the lakes and river have been brought in via ballast tanks of international ships transiting the St. Lawrence Seaway. Once here, they don't stop at the lake shore - they spread rapidly across the United States and Canada. An invasion into the Great Lakes threatens North America's freshwater ecosystems, our economies and our way of life. On August 28th, the United States Coast Guard proposed a new rule that would that would require ships transiting any waters of the United States, including the St. Lawrence Seaway, to clean-up their ballast tanks in a two-phase process. This rule could be a groundbreaking regulation- the strongest effort yet in the fight to stop aquatic invasive species introductions! But the proposed rule isn’t strong enough to protect our precious freshwaters as quickly as needed. We need to tell the Coast Guard in no uncertain terms that it needs to stop introductions of aquatic invasive species into the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River – now!