International Policy
Lodge et al. (2006) identified six different actions that should be taken by the United States government in order to improve invasive species policy. The first one is to use new information and practices to better manage commercial and other pathways to reduce transport and release of potentially harmful species. I think this is one of the most important factors in policy making. If you do not stop the spread of invasive species, it does not matter how much money or effort you put in to trying to clean them out of one area because chances are they will be back. One pathway that policy needs to deal with is shipping traffic. It is one of the most active pathways and it has the potential to spread millions of species per day. Lodge discusses this issue in his paper and he makes additional recommendations. He talks about how there needs to be more enforcement of existing policies in the US. Also, new technologies available for species detection and removal need to be implemented more than they are. Finally, while a lot of countries, including the United States, have developed regulations for dealing with ballast water, they cannot be fully effective until there is and international standard and uniformity. The International Maritime Organizations (IMO) has come out with some regulations and recommendations, but the issue is that while most countries are adhering to these, they are still vague and leave a lot of room for countries to make their own decisions. The differences that arise in policies from this can cause the measures taken against the spread of invasives not to be as effective.
Lodge, D.M. , S. Williams, H. MacIsaac, K. Hayes, B. Leung, L. Loope, S. Reichard,
R.N. Mack, P.B. Moyle, M. Smith, D.A. Andow, J.T. Carlton, and A. McMichael.
Biological invasions: recommendations for policy and management (Position Paper for
the Ecological Society of America). Ecological Applications 16:2034-2054.