November 18, 2016 — SANDUSKY, Ohio — There’s a tiny new creature in Lake Erie that’s not supposed to be there.
And the shipping industry that carries cargo in the Great Lakes says it’s being unfairly blamed for the uninvited guest.
Citing a report from scientists at the U.S. Geological Survey, an industry trade group is arguing that it’s unfair to blame freighters for the introduction into western Lake Erie of Thermocyclops crassus, a tiny invertebrate plankton that has been found in western Lake Erie near Toledo.
“The best current evidence does not point to ballast water discharges in the past decade as the most likely reason for the recent discovery of T. crassus,” says a fact sheet issued by the Lake Carriers Association. “However, without any supporting scientific data or research to back their claims, the National Wildlife Federation and the Alliance for the Great Lakes have been quick to blame ballast water, particularly recent discharges from foreign vessels, as the vector of introduction.”
As the Sandusky Register reported on Nov. 2, scientists from Cornell University doing research aboard a U.S. EPA boat announced finding the creature in small numbers. While it’s considered non-native, it’s not known yet whether the creature will reproduce in large numbers and become a nuisance, allowing it to obtain “invasive species” status.