Survey discovers potential threat to Maine...( chin aquaculture operations. We do not...)

She noted that the waters of Cobscook Bay, which are near the Canadian border, may be too cold for Didemnum to spread and to pose a major threat to the area at present but that rising sea surface temperatures could allow the squirt to spread in the future.

Her survey not only discovered a potentially threatening species in eastern Maine, but also demonstrated that a locally funded survey could be effective without reliance on federal agencies to fund expensive, large-scale regional projects. In addition to Maine's chapter of The Nature Conservancy, the survey was supported by Maine Sea Grant, the Cobscook Bay Resource Center, the Maine State Planning Office and the Maine Department of Marine Resources.

"Now that we've shown that a local approach to funding and supporting a rapid assessment survey is possible, other coastal communities may want to follow suit to survey their waters to determine if any invasive species are present and whether they pose an ecological or economic threat," said Seeley, who also serves as the associate curator of Cornell's malacology (mollusks, such as chitons, clams, mussels, snails, sea slugs, octopus and squid) collection.

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Contact: Blaine Friedlander
bpf2@cornell.edu
607-254-8093
Cornell University News Service
1-Sep-2005