BY JAMES J. LIDINGTON

A portion of a $1.1 million grant to help protect the Great Lakes from invasions of nuisance species and human pathogens transported in cargo ships' ballast tanks has been awarded to two Old Dominion researchers.

Fred Dobbs, associate professor of oceanography, and Martina Doblin, a self-supporting research professor in the ocean, earth and atmospheric sciences department, will represent the university on the project.

They will analyze water and sediment samples for their microbiological constituents and assess the potential for harm to the Great Lakes.

"The introduction of nonindigenous species is an issue of global significance, with considerable consequences for local and regional economies, industry, aquaculture, tourism and recreation, as well as the ecological integrity of aquatic systems," Doblin said.

Dobbs and Doblin will perform their analyses principally on campus - they have already begun work on material collected aboard one cargo ship - but also will participate in the sampling and the experiments to be performed on the Great Lakes in March when the St. Lawrence Seaway is reopened by icebreakers.

The effort is being led by the Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystem Research of Ann Arbor, Mich., and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory of the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

The funds, awarded by the Governors' Great Lakes Protection Fund, will support the first project to focus specifically on the aquatic animals, plants and human pathogens entering the lakes in the tanks of vessels declaring "no ballast on board" (NOBOB).

These vessels are an overlooked and possibly underestimated pathway for invasive species introductions into the Great Lakes. Recent studies estimate that more than 90 percent of the vessels entering the St. Lawrence Seaway, the main route from the Atlantic Ocean to the Great Lakes, declare NOBOB and therefore escape regulation under existing federal, state and provincial laws.

This project will determine the threats that these vessels pose to the Great Lakes and examine the effectiveness of ballast water management practices on short-circuiting this pathway for biological invasions.

Researchers from the University of Michigan, the University of Windsor, the Smithsonian Environmental Research Center and NOAA have worked in cooperation with shipping firms, port agents, shipping associations and policy experts on the project.

The Great Lakes Protection Fund was created by the governors of the Great Lakes states in 1989. The world's first ecosystem endowment, the fund supports regional efforts to restore the health of the Great Lakes ecosystem.

Since its inception, the fund has provided more than $34 million in support of regional projects. The fund has also provided more than $27 million in support to its member states for grant-making programs that focus on local priorities.

As part of the program, scientists will ride across the Atlantic on cargo ships, observing ballasting practices and testing for living organisms. Ballast tanks are large chambers that can be flooded with water to allow ships to travel safely when empty of cargo.

When a ship loads cargo, it pumps out the water from its ballast tanks. However, nearly all vessels cannot pump out all of their ballast and some of the water, sediment and biological matter is left behind.

The project team will sample the residual material in the bottom of reportedly "empty" tanks and characterize the organisms present.

Next, the team will determine which organisms are likely to survive and perhaps thrive if ballast residuals are mixed with new ballast water and discharged into the Great Lakes. For the first time, researchers will determine the importance of "resting" stages produced by some species - reproductive material that can remain dormant in the mucky bottoms of "empty" ballast tanks but re-emerge as an active life form when flushed out into a Great Lakes port.