Risk assessment for exotic aquatic invasive species: a shared vision for North America

There are few environmental issues that are as well documented as the impacts of alien invasive species. The movement of people, commodities and their transport media through international commerce has increased the risk of transferring unwanted organisms. The Commission for Environmental Cooperation for North America (CEC) responded to this challenge with the development of the "Trinational Risk Assessment Guidelines for Aquatic Alien Invasive Species". This paper presents a summary of resulting guidelines of international and regional trade conventions and agreements, and shows its use in two real cases of invasive species: armored catfish of the family Loricariidae and snakehead of the family Channidae, in the aquatic environments of Canada, US and Mexico. The result of this guide meets the agreed and accepted international and regional trade requirements, and has benefited from the evaluation of different organisms.