“[The] onslaught of “living pollution” has been particularly apparent and — in the case of viral hemorrhagic septicemia — gruesome this year. But it’s not new. For decades, the people living along our coastlines have struggled to eradicate or contain foreign plants, animals and microorganisms that enter the United States by the billions each year via international shipping vessels.
The annual cost to the United States of attempting to control aquatic invaders is about $9 billion. That number will continue to rise, as will the rate of new invasive species, unless federal, state and local governments work together to regulate their primary source: ballast water, which is sea water taken on board by ships to provide stability during voyages and dumped overboard once they reach their destinations.”