Marine invaders

Oregon Sea Grant is teaming with Oregon Public Broadcasting and the Salem Statesman-Journal on a year-long campaign to engage Oregonians in the battle against invasive species.

Sea Grant aquatic invasives specialist Sam Chan has served as a technical advisor and content source for print and broadcast special reports and an online database of species that threaten native plants, animals, and ecosystems in Oregon. The highlight of the campaign is a new, hour-long documentary, "The Silent Invasion," produced by OPB and premiering on Earth To coincide with the documentary's premiere, Sea Grant has published a new, illustrated invasive species identifiecation guide “On the Lookout for Aquatic Invaders,"

For Sea Grant, the campaign is the latest aspect of an ongoing effort to learn - and teach the public - more about marine invasive species, their effect on the native environment and means of controlling their spread. The work dates back to the early 1990s, when the program funded research into the global spread of invasives via the ballast water of international cargo ships. Later, the program partnered with Washington Sea Grant and the University of Washington to form the Pacific Northwest Marine Invasive Species Team, a grant-funded project that resulted in regional information meetings, publications, videos, and an ongoing exhibit, Invasion of the Habitat Snatchers, at OSU's Hatfield Marine Science Visitor Center.

In 2005, Sam Chan joined Sea Grant as the program's aquatic ecosystems health educator, with a special focus on marine invasive species. Chan is part of a team of advisors to OPB’s Oregon Field Guide production crew, led by producer Ed Jahn. Chan arranged for the OPB crew to be invited along on an exploratory research visit to China last year, and that experience of the interconnected global nature of the invasives problem and potential solutions figures prominently in the OPB documentary. Chan represents Oregon Sea Grant on the state’s Oregon Invasive Species Council, another key partner in the public education campaign.

Chan and other Sea Grant colleagues have been also contributed social science research to guide the development of the campaign. Focus group interviews were conducted with boaters, hunters, gardeners and others whose activities may put them in contact with plant or animal invaders. Sea Grant has also supported the development of a statewide public opinion survey with the Oregon Invasive Species Council about invasives, led by Sea Grant professor of free-choice learning, Lynn Dierking, along with Chan and communications leader Joe Cone.

Other participants in the 2008 educational campaign include SOLV, the Nature Conservancy, the Oregon Invasive Species Council, the City of Portland, and Portland State University.

Publications and videos from Oregon Sea Grant :

NEW: On the Lookout for Aquatic Invaders: Indentification Guide for the Pacific Northwest

Developed as a tool for watershed councils and other community groups to use in the field, this 72-page, coil-bound, full-color identification guide provides background information, illustrations and key identification characteristics of many aquatic invaders already established - or likely to become established in the Pacific Northwest. Just $4.95 plus shipping and handling.

Excerpt (1.2 MB pdf) | Order form [.pdf]
Available soon from our online store

You Ought to Tell Somebody

Oregon Sea Grant's award-winning video vividly outlines the potential problems of marine invaders and the value of early detection, and highlights the concerns with several species, including the Chinese Mitten Crab and zebra mussel. This 23-minute video is now available for free online viewing in eight Flash video segments. The entire video is also available for purchase in DVD ($19.95 + S&H) or VHS ($18.95 + S&H) formats from our secure online store.

Watch online | Purchase DVD or VHS

You Can STOP the Spread of Aquatic Invasive Species

Designed for teachers who work with fish and other animals in the classroom, this color brochure describes the problems caused by releasing non-native creatures into the wild, and provides tips for engaging students in the campaign to stop the spread of aquatic invaders.

Printable .pdf | HTML (text only)

New Zealand Mudsnails

The New Zealand mudsnail threatens U.S. waters by competing with native invertebrates for food and habitat, sometimes at great cost to the ecosystem. This identification and prevention brochure by Sea Grant's Sam Chan tells how researchers, monitoring crews, watershed survey groups and others who hike through rivers and watersheds can help prevent the snails' spread by careful sanitation of field gear. (Under revision, spring 2008)

Printable .pdf | HTML (text only)

Global Invader: The European Green Crab

The European green crab, Carcinus maenas, was first discovered on the Pacific coast of the United States in 1989, near San Francisco Bay. By 1998, this notorious global invader had reached the Pacific Northwest, and the news was unwelcome to fishers, ecologists, fishery managers, and others monitoring the biological diversity of coastal waters. This 140-page illustrated trade paperback describes the biology and life history of this voracious predator, presents case studies of green crab invasions, and discusses the crab's ecological and economic impact on the Pacific coast of North America.

Purchase book