News
GLC and National Sea Grant Law Center launch new database to help prevent online sales of invasive species
Ann Arbor, Mich. – The Great Lakes Commission (GLC) has launched a new online resource that allows users to quickly check state and federal regulations before buying or selling aquatic plants and animals online, helping ensure compliance with applicable laws while protecting freshwater ecosystems from invasive species. Developed in collaboration with the National Sea Grant Law Center, the new AquaSale database compiles regulations governing aquatic organisms across all 50 states, making it easier for online sellers and buyers to determine where species may be legally sold, purchased or transported.
Many online retailers are unaware that laws regulating the sale, purchase and transport of aquatic species vary significantly by state. AquaSale addresses this challenge by providing clear, easy-to-access regulatory information before plants and animals are shipped across state lines.
“The growing popularity of online sales of plants and animals has created new challenges in preventing the spread of harmful invasive species to the Great Lakes,” said GLC Chair Timothy Bruno, Great Lakes Program Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection. “Many invasive plants and animals can be purchased online with just a few clicks. Through the Great Lakes Detector of Invasive Aquatics in Trade (GLDIATR) project, the Great Lakes Commission is working to identify, evaluate and reduce the risk of invasive species being imported or shipped into the Great Lakes region. We’re grateful to our partners at the National Sea Grant Law Center for providing the legal expertise needed to translate complex regulations into the user-friendly information available through this new database.”
The National Sea Grant Law Center will host and maintain the database, ensuring it remains current as state and federal invasive species regulations evolve.
Funding for AquaSale was provided by the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative through a grant agreement between the GLC and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service. To learn more about the GLC’s aquatic invasive species work and the GLDIATR project, visit www.glc.org/work/ais.
The Great Lakes Commission, led by chair Timothy Bruno, Great Lakes Program Coordinator at the Pennsylvania Department of Environmental Protection, is a binational government agency established in 1955 to protect the Great Lakes and the economies and ecosystems they support. Its membership includes leaders from the eight U.S. states and two Canadian provinces in the Great Lakes basin. The GLC recommends policies and practices to balance the use, development, and conservation of the water resources of the Great Lakes and brings the region together to work on issues that no single community, state, province, or nation can tackle alone. Learn more at www.glc.org.