Twenty five years of invasion: management of the round goby Neogobius melanostomus in the Baltic Sea

Abstract

Biological invasions are increasing in frequency and the need to mitigate or control their effects is a major challenge to natural resource managers. Failure to control invasive species has been attributed to inadequate policies, resources or scientific knowledge. Often, natural resource managers with limited funds are tasked with the development of an invasive species control program without access to key decision-support information such as whether or not an invasive species will cause damage, and what the extent of that damage may be. Once damages are realized, knowing where to allocate resources and target control efforts is not straightforward. Here we present the history of invasive species policy development and management in a large, multi-jurisdictional and multi-use aquatic ecosystem. We present a science-based decision-support tool for on-the-ground aquatic invasive species (AIS) control to support the development of a sustainable control program. Lastly, we provide a set of recommendations for managers desiring to make an AIS control implementation plan based upon our development of novel invasive species research, policy and management in Lake Tahoe (USA). We find that a sustainable invasive species control program is possible when science, coordination and outreach are integrated.

Using acoustic telemetry and snorkel surveys to study diel activity and seasonal migration of round goby (Neogobius melanostomus) in an estuary of the Western Baltic Sea

“…For example, the invasion by the spiny water flea Bythotrephes longimanus (Leydig) into Lake Mendota (USA) caused a decline in water transparency that translated into a US$ 140 million loss (Walsh, Carpenter & Vander Zanden, 2016). A complete eradication of invasive species may prove very expensive or simply impossible (Doody et al, 2017;Ojaveer et al, 2015), but continued efforts to control invasive species may keep both densities and ecological footprints low. Harvest and consumption of invasive species represent one approach to achieve this goal that is consistent with the concept of renewal ecology (Bowman et al, 2017).…”

“…Numerous studies have reported negative ecosystem effects in the wake of the invasion of round goby (Balshine, Verma, Chant & Theysmeyer, 2005;Demchenko & Tkachenko, 2017;Karlson, Almqvist, Skora & Appelberg, 2007;Kornis et al, 2012;Lauer, Allen & McComish, 2004;Oesterwind et al, 2017;Sapota, 2004;Schrandt et al, 2016), yet few attempts have been made to mitigate the effects (Dorenbosch et al, 2017;Ojaveer et al, 2015). One potential approach to reduce round goby numbers and the ecological footprint could be to develop a targeted fishery for the species.…”

Consequences of eye fluke infection on anti-predator behaviours in invasive round gobies in Kalmar Sound

“…Therefore, it has been suggested that these species can help reduce the population growth of the round gobies in the Baltic (Ojaveer et al 2015). It is plausible that the impaired escape response of infected round gobies to aerial attacks observed in this study might increase susceptibility to predation by the great heron and other birds that feed by striking from above.…”

“…In the Baltic Sea, it now dominates the catch in various coastal fisheries, and it is frequently found in offshore catches (Ojaveer et al 2015). Round gobies are like most fishes infected by numerous different parasites both in their native and invasive areas (Kvach et al 2014).…”

Environmental tolerance of three gammarid species with and without invasion record under current and future global warming scenarios

“…Lawrence River region in much higher numbers than expected based on introduction effort (i.e., shipping frequency) and environmental conditions between these regions, it has been suggested that Ponto‐Caspian taxa are inherently better invaders than species from other regions (Casties et al., ; Leppäkoski et al., ; Ricciardi & MacIsaac, ). Some of those Ponto‐Caspian species, such as the zebra mussel Dreissena polymorpha , the amphipod Echinogammarus ischnus and the round goby Neogobius melanostomus , can have high impact on local communities and ecosystem functioning (Charlebois, Corkum, Jude, & Knight, ; Dermott, Witt, Um, & González, ; Ojaveer et al., ; Ricciardi, Neves, & Rasmussen, ). Changes in species communities and environments may open new niche opportunities for continuously introduced species and might be enhanced by predicted future climate change (Holopainen et al., ; IPCC, ).…”