Unwanted species are invading the Great Lakes faster than science can keep up with them, representatives to a binational conference in Ann Arbor, Mich., were told at a conference that ended Saturday.

The influx of foreign species — often dumped from the ballast water of ocean-going tankers — is turning the Great Lakes into an ecological carnival ride where biologists can only guess what will happen next, the Detroit Free Press reported today.

Managing the invasive species threat and a range of other Great Lakes-related issues were on the agenda at the three-day meeting of the International Joint Commission, the newspaper reported. The IJC oversees management of boundary waters between the United States and Canada.

Commission members agree that better coordination is needed among the dozens of groups and government agencies charged with safeguarding the lakes. One idea proposed at the conference was the appointment of a Great Lakes “czar” to spearhead such efforts, according to the Free Press.

“On the invasive species, there is a real need for someone to take control,” Thomas Skinner, administrator for the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s Great Lakes region, was quoted as saying.

The IJC has already asked U.S. and Canadian federal governments for authority to coordinate the war on invasives, but has not yet been granted that power, said Dennis Schornack of Williamston, chairman of the U.S. section of the commission.

“I think someone should be put in charge to encourage enforcement and look for common standards,” he said.

More than 160 nonnative species have been discovered in the lakes — ranging from microscopic invaders to the ubiquitous zebra and quagga mussels. The mussels, whose excrement increases phosphorus levels that lead to damaging algae blooms, may be to blame for a dead zone in Lake Erie where almost nothing lives, the newspaper reports. Because Lake Erie is the shallowest of the Great Lakes, it often is the harbinger of bad news.

“It’s the sentinel for all the Great Lakes,” Jeff Reutter, a researcher at Ohio State University, told the newspaper. “If there’s going to be a problem, it’ll probably show up first” in Lake Erie.