BIOLOGICAL POLLUTION - Marine Pollution: What Everyone Needs to Know - page 190

Recreational fishing can also spread invasive species. Bait
worms from Maine are popular throughout the country. They
are commonly packed in seaweed which contains many other
organisms. If the seaweed is discarded, it or the organisms on
it can colonize new areas. Wading boots, recreational boats,
and trailers can pick up organisms at one location and move
them elsewhere.
The aquarium trade can also be responsible for marine
invasions. Many people keep exotic fish, marine plants, inver-
tebrates, or corals in aquariums. One of the most infamous
marine invaders, a strain of the tropical seaweed Caulerpa
taxifolia , now carpets large areas of the Mediterranean Sea.
Molecular studies by O. Jousson and colleagues indicated that
it was derived from an aquarium strain. Since the alga was first
spotted right under windows of the Oceanographic Museum
in Monaco, it probably came from that aquarium. The lionfish,
one of the most devastating invaders in the Caribbean, prob-
ably originated from aquarium pets that were released.
Debris washed out to sea by the Japanese tsunami in 2011
is washing ashore in North America, carrying with it large
numbers of hitchhikers; thus far over 60 Japanese species have
come on floating debris to the west coast of the United States
and Canada. Of special concern are docks, piers, buoys, and
vessels that were in seawater at the time of the tsunami and
would have already had populations of attached organisms.
What makes this different from boat transport is that boats
move too quickly between ports for many organisms to hang
on. Also, the communities transported on slow-moving tsu-
nami debris can arrive along the whole coastline rather than
just at ports. Of great concern is the Northern Pacific seastar,
a shallow-water species that eats shellfish. After it invaded
Australia its population grew to 12 million in two years and
it had major impacts on aquaculture. A fast-growing sea-
weed called wakame kelp has also been found on much of the
Japanese debris. Shellfish including blue mussels, Pacific oys-
ters, brown barnacles, and clams from Japan have also been