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Using Microwaves To Cook Ballast Stowaways
Posted by
kdawson
on Mon May 12, 2008 08:29 PM
from the avast-and-adios dept.
from the avast-and-adios dept.
Smivs writes "US researchers say they have developed an effective way to kill unwanted plants and animals that hitch a ride in the ballast waters of cargo vessels. Tests showed that a continuous microwave system was able to remove all marine life within the water tanks. The UN lists 'invasive species' dispersed by ballast water discharges as one of the four main threats to the world's marine ecosystems. For example European zebra mussels (Dreissena polymorpha) have infested more than 40% of the US's inland waterways. Between 1989 and 2000, up to $1B is estimated to have been spent on controlling the spread of the alien invader."
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Too little too late (Score:5, Informative)
Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Too bad they don't taste good.
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Re: (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Interesting)
-ghostis
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Re:Too little too late (Score:4, Funny)
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Re:Too little too late (Score:4, Insightful)
The great lakes were dying from pollution before the zebra mussels.
At least the water that goes downstream is cleaner than it would be otherwise.
Hey, when life hands you a lemon ...
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Re:Life, lemons and unexpected outcomes (Score:5, Interesting)
Talk to anyone who does wreck diving in the Great Lakes. The water used to be really crappy - in fact, in areas it was about as opaque as a glass of lemonade. Or mud. Now it's a LOT clearer.
What we SHOULD be doing is laying removable mesh "beds" for zebra mussels to breed on outside every sewer discharge. Once a good colony is going, remove a portion of the bed each week and grind the mussels up for fertilizer or glue or fish food or whatever.
Henry Ford had the right idea - let people dump anything they want in the river, provided their water intake is downstream of it. After all, if you expect people downstream from you to drink it, you should be prepared to as well ... the zebra mussels are doing a lot of the work that we should be doing, but aren't.
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
You're looking for the EPA study ...
http://www.epa.gov/glnpo/glwqa/usreport/part5.html [epa.gov]
Re:Too little too late (Score:4, Informative)
Of course, if you are going to be introducing a non native species, you'd better be absolutely sure you know what you're doing. There are countless regulatory obstacles that typically need to be overcome, too, and it can take years before a species is approved to be released from quarantine into the field, if it ever is.
Typically, an introduced organism becomes a pest for one of two reasons: 1) it's a generalist that is a better competitor for resources than existing species (as is the case with the zebra mussel, which is unbelievably effective at filtering particulate organic matter from the water and subsequently undergoing rapid population growth) or 2) it becomes a pest or pathogen of a particular existing species. Many introduced plant pathogens fall into this second category- they have no natural predators in the new environment, as well as a food source that has not evolved any defense mechanisms against them. The balsam woolly adelgid or the chestnut blight fungus are two examples of the latter.
Although there are probably cases where introducing a new predator species can cause more problems than it solves (remember that Simpsons episode?), with careful planning and understanding of the ecology of the organism, such issues can hopefully be avoided. Usually, we err too far on the side of caution by choosing a species that is too much of a specialist, and we don't get the results we would hope for. Remember the Laricobius beetles I mentioned earlier? One problem with them is that they are so specialized, that when the hemlock woolly adelgid starts to become scarce the beetles have no other food source and begin to decline as well. They have no other food source, and thus have essentially no effect on existing native species.
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Funny)
Lisa: But isn't that a bit short-sighted? What happens when we're overrun by lizards?
Skinner: No problem. We simply release wave after wave of Chinese needle snakes. They'll wipe out the lizards.
Lisa: But aren't the snakes even worse?
Skinner: Yes, but we're prepared for that. We've lined up a fabulous type of gorilla that thrives on snake meat.
Lisa: But then we're stuck with gorillas!
Skinner: No, that's the beautiful part. When wintertime rolls around, the gorillas simply freeze to death.
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Insightful)
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Re: (Score:3, Informative)
It wasn't the best laid out plan.
If you do introduce a predator you have to ensure it is specialized for the target species and can not adapt to other creatures. The only sucessful release that I know of is the cactoblastis beetle which almost wiped out the pickly pear introduced into
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Interesting)
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Informative)
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Informative)
The problem is that predators usually are not restricted to a single kind of prey, so they will not only control the organism you want to get rid of but prey on indigenous species that you don't want it to. A case in point is the rabbit problem in New Zealand, which has no indigenous mammals. Introducing predators such as foxes or coyotes is not an acceptable solution because they will also eat the various species of flightless birds. Even when there is a specialized predator, it is very difficult to be sure that it will stay specialized.
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Re:Too little too late (Score:4, Interesting)
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Re:Too little too late (Score:5, Funny)
Have you considered removing them from your flat? That might make a difference on how you look at wildlife.
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Re:Too little too late (Score:4, Funny)
Flats are for cute & cuddly native animals called possums, often refered to as "roof rabbits" or "dim sims".
"That might make a difference on how you look at wildlife."
Please don't presume you know how I "look at wildlife".
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
But without muscles, zebras would be all floppy and squishy. Plus, zoo revenue would go down. Who wants to watch a flat patch of stripes laying on the field?
-1 Lame
I think not.... (Score:5, Funny)
A better solution, I propose, is to simply put some spent nuclear fuel into the ballast tank to kill off any invasive species before dumping the ballast water.
Posing as AC b/c I work for an environmental consulting firm...and my boss would fire me if he knew I was this "green".
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Why it's important to RTFA (Score:5, Funny)
My first thought was, "Wow, that sounds effective."
My second was, "But that is kinda harsh."
My thirs, "Cooooooool."
Re:Why it's important to RTFA (Score:5, Funny)
"Excuse me, stewardess? Is something burning in the kitchen? Smells like bologna..."
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Re: (Score:3, Funny)
My second was, "But that is kinda harsh."
My thirs, "Cooooooool."
Wait... are you counting your thoughts, or your Alabama Slammers?
The Fail Boat (Score:5, Interesting)
If you've seen pictures of the Fail Boat [flickr.com] around the internet, you might be interested to know the story behind it [wired.com] (link is to printer version). In short, the whole ordeal happened as a result of the requirement that they dump ballast water before entering US waters. The story on Wired covers the accident as well as the salvage operation and is an excellent read.
It appears that this is a dangerous enough process that it was worth eliminating it. That, or they're just trying to cut down on travel time by not having to stop - but that's just the cynic in me talking.
Re:The Fail Boat (Score:5, Interesting)
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He's simply arguing that the mistake highlights a risk (and an inconvenience) which may be avoided by the mechanism described in TFA, while still addressing the problems which necessitate the ballast dumping in the first place.
(Whether or not the proposed mechanism is, in fact, adequate, feasible, or ultimately desirable/undesirable in a global deployment is, however, beyond the scope of this particular facet of the discussion).
Here's a better idea... (Score:2, Interesting)
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Might as well get used to it (Score:3, Insightful)
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Invasive species? (Score:2, Insightful)
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Mussels?! (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Mussels?! (Score:5, Informative)
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What about the railroads? (Score:5, Funny)
I'm just asking.
Was the previous method (Score:2)
I know, its a different type of "alien" but it seemed funny...
What can happen using low tech (Score:5, Informative)
http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/magazine/16-03/ff_seacowboys?currentPage=all [wired.com]
*spoiler* essentially current cargo ships headed to the U.S. have to flush their ballast in international waters and refill with local seawater. The Cougar Ace somehow managed to screw up this step and went askew (see pic). There were many quite grave consequences.
Granted, it's not standard operating protocol to end up with losses like this just too keep out invasive species, but it does illustrate some of the challenges and extent of trouble people go to to comply with this kind of ecological directive. Plus it was a damn well-written story I enjoyed reading.
What could possibly go wrong? (Score:2, Funny)
US researchers say they have developed an effective way to kill unwanted plants and animals that hitch a ride in the ballast waters of cargo tankers.
Tests showed that a continuous microwave system was able to remove all marine life within the water tanks.
Mmmmmmmm..... Microwaves! (Score:3, Funny)
Somebody call Mike Rowe...
Chinese Mitten Crab Comes To Hudson River (Score:5, Interesting)
http://www.dec.ny.gov/animals/35888.html [ny.gov]
I read articles that make them sound like "rats of the sea" but they do eat them in China so maybe they are good eating (trying to be hopeful).
"The fact they will climb over dams, go on shore into people's swimming pools, burrow into banks, we sure as hell don't need them here," Gabrielson said. "I really believe there's not a damn thing in the world we can do about it."
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070615/NEWS/706150327 [recordonline.com]
Another way - Use nitrogen. (Score:5, Informative)
It purges the water of oxygen, killing any marine life. It also has the benefit of stopping corrosion.
It does have the downside of making the ships hull an instant death (asphyxiation) hazard.
Other uses... (Score:5, Funny)
[For you youngsters: s/ballast/mother/g;]
swish and spit... (Score:3, Informative)
Starting this year cargo vessels are required to "swish and spit" - flush their ballast tanks 200 miles before entering the St. Lawrence seaway.
This probably doesn't do much good for saltwater invasive marine life but is a good solution for the freshwater nasties.
Nice but (Score:3, Funny)
Re:Great! But... (Score:5, Funny)
And in answer to the followup question - delicious!
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