Ricciardi, A. (2022, October 13). Ballast water management is reducing the flow of invasive species into the Great Lakes. Phys.org. Retrieved January 17, 2023, from https://phys. org/news/2022-10-ballast-invasive-species-great-lakes.html

Saltwater flushing, where ballast tanks are flushed with seawater to the point that the tanks are as salty as the ocean, has proven to be extremely effective in reducing the number of invasive species introduced into the Great Lakes. Previously, inbound ships were required to exchange their freshwater ballast with saltwater before entering the Great Lakes. However, this was not required for ships with no pumpable ballast, and the residual water in these ships led to the continued spread of invasive species before saltwater flushing was mandated by Canada and the United States of America in 2006 and 2008, respectively.

This article is related to environmental science because the invasive species mentioned in this article, including the bighead carp, black carp, fish-hook waterflea, grass carp, Ponto-Caspian amphipod, silver carp, tench, and zebra mussel are harming the ecosystems of the Great Lakes by overconsuming nutrients that native species need to survive and rapidly increasing their populations. Saltwater flushing greatly reduces the number of invasive species introduced to the Great Lakes via ballast water, reducing the amount the ecosystems will be further negatively affected by them. I’m happy that saltwater flushing is proving to be so useful in decreasing the further introduction of invasive species to the Great Lakes. I’m also relieved that the Canadian and American governments are taking the threat of invasive species in the Great Lakes seriously enough that they are mandating saltwater flushing before ships enter there. Saltwater flushing seems to be so effective that I am wondering if we could use it to reduce the number of invasive species being introduced to other freshwater systems in other places. However, I hope that the governments and people of the U.S. and Canada continue to fight back against the invasive species already in the Great Lakes and prevent their further spread in addition to attempting to prevent further introduction of invasive species into the lakes. It is important that we work on both prevention and mitigation.