Status of introductions of non-indigenous marine species in the North Atlantic and adjacent waters 2003-2007

Over the past few years, new records and reports of non-native species have provided additional insight into the potential vectors and spread of introduced pathogens, plants, and animals. This five-year report brings together and summarizes the nonnative species introductions reported in annual reports to the Working Group on Introductions and Transfers for the period 2003 – 2007. Not all countries reported every year, limiting the information on species distributions. Most of the observations are from coastal areas and embayments, and they range from marine waters to brackish and, occasionally, freshwater. One exception is an American report on a tunicate that has invaded a productive offshore area 200 nautical miles from shore, suggesting that greater effort needs to be made to determine the offshore distributions of species.