"It was overwhelming," said Jeff Bode of the Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources. "Aquatic invasive species has just taken off as such a big issue."
"The Great lakes are a beachhead - just the first stopping point for species arriving in North America," "If you want to know what's coming next," he said, "look at what's already in the Great Lakes."
So the conference's three host organizations - the DNR, UW Extension and the Wisconsin Association of Lakes - brought in some of North America's top experts on aquatic invasive species to talk about the sources of the problem and how to protect their lakes from them.
There are other pathways for unwanted fish, viruses and mollusks to make their way into Wisconsin's inland waters - barges traveling up the Mississippi River, for example - but the Great Lakes are a hot spot for invasive species because of their direct connection to the outside world via the St. Lawrence Seaway.
The Great Lakes are now home to about 185 foreign species. The majority of invasions since the St. Lawrence Seaway opened the lakes to overseas traffic a half century ago can be blamed on freighters arriving from foreign ports.
He said trying to shield a single lake doesn't work well because invasions mount in adjoining waters and eventually spread like a blanket across whole regions.
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