Alien invasive species pose serious threat

Christopher Serju, Sunday Gleaner Writer

Jamaica recently moved closer to developing a national strategy to address the threat of marine invasive alien species following consultations among experts drawn from different specialities at a forum held recently at the Terra Nova All Suite Hotel in St Andrew.

Dr Dayne Buddo, chair of the Regional Marine Invasive Alien Species working group, expressed satisfaction with the progress made.

"I think getting consensus among the stakeholders for a marine invasive alien species strategy was achieved," he said after the forum.

"Getting this final sign-off from them (stakeholders) was very important and was attained. I think all the persons are comfortable with respect to what's in the strategy moving forward, and I think this will definitely drive the national invasive species strategy that we will be developing shortly.

"We have a draft of the national invasive species strategy already, so these findings and reports and everything and the consultations driving the regional strategy will help to kindle and refine that national invasive species strategy. So perhaps by the end of the year, or the beginning of next year, we'll definitely have our national invasive species strategy out and to be implemented," Buddo explained.

He said the aim of the strategy is to bring focus to invasive-species management, taking into account all the strategies to prevent, control, and manage invasions in Jamaica, not only for the marine environment, but also for terrestrial and freshwater environments.

High importance

The issue of invasion is a matter of high importance not only in Jamaica, where the lionfish has been making the news recently, but also on a regional and global level.

"Invasive species are described as the number-one threat on islands in respect of their biodiversity, so it has definite serious impact with respect to Jamaica. We've been impacted severely over the past decades and centuries from invasions, and we will continue to be, but the level of that impact will be determined by the amount of management strategies that we implement," Buddo said.

Invasive alien species (IAS) are plants, animals, or micro-organisms introduced deliberately or intentionally in areas where they do not occur naturally and whose introduction or spread threatens biological diversity.

In recent years, Jamaica has been grappling with the lionfish, which was identified here in 2006, and which, if left unchecked, could devastate local fish stocks in a relatively short time. One lionfish may eat up to 20 juvenile fish per day, feeding on a variety of marine species including the parrot fish, snapper, wrass, damsel fish, crabs, shrimps, and other crustaceans.

Extinct

The Jamaican Iguana, which is at serious risk of becoming extinct, is also under threat from the IAS at its only natural habitat in the Helshire Hills. Threats include dogs, feral cats, mongoose, wild pigs, and the European rats, which prey on the iguana eggs or hatchlings.

Under the umbrella of the Mitigating the Threat of Invasive Alien Species in the Insular Caribbean project, a number of initiatives are under way to stem the spread of the lionfish population, protect the iguana, and preserve biodiversity of the Black Lower Morass from two invasive freshwater plants.

Located in St Elizabeth, the Black River Morass is the largest freshwater wetland in Jamaica and one of the largest in the Caribbean. Its biodiversity is under serious threat from the Bottlebrush, or Paper Bark Tree, as well as the Wild Ginger. Native to Australia, the Bottlebrush (Melaleuca quinquenervia) is an aggressive and highly invasive plant, which once it has been properly established, results in degradation of the ecosystem structure, reducing native-species biodiversity.

The Wild Ginger (Alpinia allughas) has been steadily spreading, replacing and disturbing the ecological balance of the internationally significant biodiversity found within the Lower Morass.