I must say i like the thought of our governor doing something that's good for our lakes. However, the article makes it seems as though Perry only responded because of the threat Salvinia poses to the fishing industry, "which is worth 2.4 billion to the state economy" (3 Colin).
The invasive aquatic plant is severely harmful to underwater vegetation, blocking the oxygen exchange between the air and water (2). I assume that this alone is enough to get some interest groups roweled up, but as Perry stated, the problem became real when he started to see that the plant poses an economical risk.
Because the money to sponsor the awareness campaign came from a fund given to the Texas Parks and Wildlife, I feel that there should be (and I'm sure that there probably is) some sort of ongoing research to rid contaminated lakes of the Salvinia. Seeing as how the article clearly states the damage it can cause once contaminated, it seems as though there is not any hope for lakes lost to this. They label these lakes as useless now.. I don't think that is acceptable. There are already 17 Texas lakes contaminated and we are just now hearing about Salvinia and its awareness campaign!
However, there is hope, some cities in Texas are saying that they are trying to rid their lakes of the plant by any means necessary. An aquatic habitat biologist in Jasper, TX said they are even trying to remove the Salvinia by hand. That may not do any good though, because as the article mentioned, if every bit of the plant is not removed it will still spread rapidly.There is also the choice of chemically cleaning the lake, which is a hopeful option.
I chose to read my fellow colleague, Yessenia’s blog post for my assignment as her very well written editorial caught my interest. As you may know by now if you have been reading my blogs; I am not a Rick Perry supporter. Ironically, this blog discusses his motives behind cleaning up our lakes in Texas of the rapid spread of Salvinia. I found this blog to be very informative and clear, so understanding the reading was very straight forward. Yessenia writes of how she likes “the thought of our governor doing something good for our lakes.” Right after that she reveals Rick Perry’s motive behind cleaning the lakes; Salvinia threatens the fishing industry, which grosses 2.4 billion for the state economy. She was very kind when writing about Perry, whereas if it were me; it would’ve been merciless. I enjoyed reading this post and would like to extend my gratitude to the writer for writing it.
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