ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT Hazard analysis and critical control point (HACCP) planning is an easy and effective way to ensure that natural resource managers and staff will do no harm to the environment while performingspeci‘c activities or practices. Transporting equipment, conducting research, collecting samples, restoring habitat, and similar activities may provide pathways for nonnative species to invade. Although many feel aresponsibility to protect and conserve our environment, attention is often narrowly focused on aspeci‘c management objective, an approach that may result in more harm than good when viewed from abroader perspective. This is avoidable with proper planning. HACCP allows natural resource management work to be assessed with respect to the nonnative and potentially invasive species that could be introduced. It allows for the development of astrategy to eliminate or minimize the risk of spread and provides aback-up plan when and if risk-reduction measures fail. HACCP is an effective tool used successfully by the National Aeronautics and Space Administration and the food industry for decades. The National Sea Grant Program adapted HACCP for the bait‘sh aquaculture industry, and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service in partnership with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration expanded this idea by adapting HACCP for all natural resource management activities. This chapter serves as abrief overview of HACCP, using an example where zebra or quagga mussels, as well as other potential invaders, could be inadvertently moved during acommon conservation activity. The ‘ve steps of HACCP will be discussed to show how the steps work together to create acomprehensive plan to prevent unwanted invasions.
