Stemming the Tide
Stemming the Tide

Author: Committee on Ships'Ballast Operations

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1996-11-05

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 0309589320

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The European zebra mussel in the Great Lakes, a toxic Japanese dinoflagellate transferred to Australia--such biologically and economically harmful stowaways have made it imperative to achieve better management of ballast water in ocean-going vessels. Stemming the Tide examines the introduction of nonindigenous species through ballast water discharge. Ballast is any solid or liquid that is taken aboard ship to achieve more controlled and safer operation. This expert volume Assesses current national and international approaches to the problem and makes recommendations for U.S. government agencies, the U.S. maritime industry, and the member states of the International Maritime Organization. Appraises technologies for controlling the transfer of organisms--biocides, filtration, heat treatment, and others --with a view toward developing the most promising methods for shipboard demonstration. Evaluates methods for monitoring the effectiveness of ballast water management in removing unwanted organisms. The book addresses the constraints inherent in ballast water management, notably shipboard ballast treatment and monitoring. Also, the committee outlines efforts to set an acceptable level of risk for species introduction using the techniques of risk analysis. Stemming the Tide will be important to all stakeholders in the issue of unwanted species introduction through ballast discharge: policymakers, port authorities, shippers, ship operators, suppliers to the maritime industry, marine biologists, marine engineers, and environmentalists.

Stemming the Tide
Stemming the Tide

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 1996-11-22

Total Pages: 158

ISBN-13: 0309055377

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The European zebra mussel in the Great Lakes, a toxic Japanese dinoflagellate transferred to Australiaâ€"such biologically and economically harmful stowaways have made it imperative to achieve better management of ballast water in ocean-going vessels. Stemming the Tide examines the introduction of non-indigenous species through ballast water discharge. Ballast is any solid or liquid that is taken aboard ship to achieve more controlled and safer operation. This expert volume: Assesses current national and international approaches to the problem and makes recommendations for U.S. government agencies, the U.S. maritime industry, and the member states of the International Maritime Organization. Appraises technologies for controlling the transfer of organismsâ€"biocides, filtration, heat treatment, and othersâ€"with a view toward developing the most promising methods for shipboard demonstration. Evaluates methods for monitoring the effectiveness of ballast water management in removing unwanted organisms. The book addresses the constraints inherent in ballast water management, notably shipboard ballast treatment and monitoring. Also, the committee outlines efforts to set an acceptable level of risk for species introduction using the techniques of risk analysis. Stemming the Tide will be important to all stakeholders in the issue of unwanted species introduction through ballast discharge: policymakers, port authorities, shippers, ship operators, suppliers to the maritime industry, marine biologists, marine engineers, and environmentalists.

Assessing the Relationship Between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water
Assessing the Relationship Between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water

Author: National Research Council

Publisher: National Academies Press

Published: 2011-07-27

Total Pages: 156

ISBN-13: 030921565X

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The human-mediated introduction of species to regions of the world they could never reach by natural means has had great impacts on the environment, the economy, and society. In the ocean, these invasions have long been mediated by the uptake and subsequent release of ballast water in ocean-going vessels. Increasing world trade and a concomitantly growing global shipping fleet composed of larger and faster vessels, combined with a series of prominent ballast-mediated invasions over the past two decades, have prompted active national and international interest in ballast water management. Assessing the Relationship Between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water informs the regulation of ballast water by helping the Environnmental Protection Agency (EPA) and the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) better understand the relationship between the concentration of living organisms in ballast water discharges and the probability of nonindigenous organisms successfully establishing populations in U.S. waters. The report evaluates the risk-release relationship in the context of differing environmental and ecological conditions,including estuarine and freshwater systems as well as the waters of the three-mile territorial sea. It recommends how various approaches can be used by regulatory agencies to best inform risk management decisions on the allowable concentrations of living organisms in discharged ballast water in order to safeguard against the establishment of new aquatic nonindigenous species, and to protect and preserve existing indigenous populations of fish, shellfish, and wildlife and other beneficial uses of the nation's waters. Assessing the Relationship Between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water provides valuable information that can be used by federal agencies, such as the EPA, policy makers, environmental scientists, and researchers.

Ballast Water Management Convention and BWMS Code with Guidelines for Implementation
Ballast Water Management Convention and BWMS Code with Guidelines for Implementation

Author: International Maritime Organization

Publisher:

Published: 2018-10-29

Total Pages: 324

ISBN-13: 9789280117028

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The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water and Sediments, 2004 (BWM Convention), is concerned with preventing, minimizing and ultimately eliminating the risks to the environment, human health, property and resources arising from the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens, through the control and management of ships' ballast water and sediments. The BWM Convention also aims to avoid unwanted side-effects from that control and encourages developments in related knowledge and technology. The 2018 consolidated edition aims to provide an easy and comprehensive reference to the up-to-date provisions and unified interpretation of articles and annex of the BWM Convention

Evaluation of Ships' Ballast Water as a Vector for Transfer of Pathogenic Bacteria to Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of Mexico
Evaluation of Ships' Ballast Water as a Vector for Transfer of Pathogenic Bacteria to Marine Protected Areas in the Gulf of Mexico

Author: Theresa L. Morris

Publisher:

Published: 2013

Total Pages: 125

ISBN-13:

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An average of three to five billion tons of ballast water (BW) is transported globally per year; 79 million tons of which is released into U. S. waters. Ballast water is necessary for large ships to maintain balance and stability while loading and unloading cargo as well as during transit. As a ship unloads it's cargo at a port, it takes on ballast water and then when it loads cargo at the next port, it discharges the ballast water, thus transferring water from port to port. Aquatic organisms are transported around the globe via ballast water. These organisms can potentially cause serious environmental and human health impacts. Historically, transfer of macro-organisms such as fish, snails, and vascular plants via ballast water have been the focus of ballast water research. More recently, microorganisms such as toxin producing dinoflagellates and diatoms i.e. "harmful algal blooms" and pathogenic bacteria (e.g. Vibrio cholerae), have been found to survive in ballast tanks for several weeks. These organisms have moved to the forefront of ballast water management (BWM) trepidations because they compose serious threats to human health as well as Marine Protected Area (MPA) ecosystems such as coral reefs. Ballasting activities of ships calling at the Port of Houston were used as a model for other major ports in U.S. Gulf States. Ballast water management reports, submitted to the U.S. Coast Guard by all overseas vessels calling at the Port of Houston in 2010 were examined for the ballast management strategies utilized prior to docking. Currently, all "coastwise" ships are not required to conduct ballast water exchanges (BWE) if they do not transit beyond the 200nm EEZ. Close inspection of BW management report forms for "overseas" ships determined that the degree of completeness was variable. By comparing the frequency of vessels entering the Port of Houston, ballast water capacities, the management types utilized, and the locations of ballast water exchanges and discharges, it can be concluded that larger vessels present the highest risk of bacterial transfer to coral reefs. Five coral diseases were discovered to be prevalent throughout the ballast management areas their presence has significantly increased in these areas over the past thirty years. The combination of this disease growth along with an increase in shipping and ballast exchanges suggests that the vector at which pathogens are being displaced must lie within the shipping lanes. The electronic version of this dissertation is accessible from http://hdl.handle.net/1969.1/149600