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Science Tries To Keep Invasive Species Out Of Bay

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Jul 22, 2008 3:50 pm US/Eastern

Science Tries To Keep Invasive Species Out Of Bay

Reporting
Alex DeMetrick

Real alien invasions don't take spaceships, just real ships. Every day those ships are steaming into the bay and Baltimore's harbor.

Alex DeMetrick reports on how science is trying to stop non-native invasive species from taking over the Chesapeake.

Not all cargo shipped to Baltimore is welcome.  Sometimes there are stowaways that end up jumping ship.  That's one theory for the Chinese mitten crab turning up in the Chesapeake.

Species can be transported in the ballast water picked up in one port and pumped out at another.

It's considered a big enough problem the Navy is supplying a cargo ship for researchers to tap into ballast water below deck.

The University of Maryland's Environmental Resource Center or MERC is testing ways to kill invasive species.  Occasionally they are big enough to see, but most are microscopic and can be dangerous to human health.

MERC researchers are experimenting with a device that exposes ballast water to ultraviolet radiation.  The federal government is putting up most of the money.

"It is estimated that there are now as many as 150 invasive species in the bay, which may have been introduced in ballast water," said Rep. Elijah Cummings.

Right now, ships are supposed to replace ballast water at sea.  While salt water kills many of the hitchhiking organisms, it does not destroy all.

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