USDA on the trail of the snail

USDA on the trail of the snail    The U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service will begin to step up enforcement of permits for imports and interstate shipments of aquatic snails.
   The agency said these shipments are also subject to increased inspection.
   “While we have considered snails to be plant pests for decades, we have not routinely enforced permit and inspection requirements for aquatic snails, particularly moving interstate,” the USDA said.
   Aquatic snails imported into the United States are generally sold for aquariums.
   The USDA warned that some of the most popular types of aquatic snails, especially the channeled apple snails, pose a significant threat to rice crops.
   The channeled apple snail already causes millions of dollars in damage a year to rice crops in Taiwan, Japan, the Philippines, China, Korea, and other Southeast Asian countries. This snail has also been known to transmit deadly meningitis to people and livestock.
   While channeled apple snails have been found loose in the United States, they have not entered the rice-growing states of Arkansas, Missouri, Louisiana, Mississippi, Texas and California. These six states account for 99.5 percent of U.S. rice production.
   “Destructive aquatic snails can feed on young rice seedlings and spread through the extensive irrigation networks of U.S. rice-growing regions,” the USDA warned.