Ballast Water Management to combat invasive species

The Report: Ballast Water Management to Combat Invasive Species

Location: RL32344

What do you learn:
With the world's cargo ships traveling faster and much more efficiently species foreign species of plants and animals are being introduced into the ecosystem of the United States around such ports as the Great Lakes and San Francisco Bay. With introduction of Zebra Muscles in the 1980's and 230 non-native species Congress decided to act to stop the contamination from the Ballast Water.

There are several ways that you can achieve Ballast Water Management (BWM) in cargo ships. The most popular way to do it a ship operator can release the water in lower-salinity coastal water in open ocean water with a higher salinity level that will kill the organisms. That method does work but however, some organisms survive the higher level salinity levels in un-pumpable residual water and sediment remaining in the tanks as this process occurs. The second approach to BWM is treatment, which is being researched, such as filtration, separation, sterilization by things like ultraviolet light and ultrasound. The third method to accomplish this is by the "no-ballast-on-board" (NOBOB) situation. The ship in this method carries no ballast water but still large numbers of organisms can remain in the tanks.

Policy makers have wrestled with the fact the procedures will cost $400,000 per vessel vs. the $5 billion dollars in damage these species have done to the Great Lakes. Congress Passed in 1990 the Non indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990. It sets fourth a task force of several different agencies to find out where Ballast exchange could occur without environmental consequences and determine what regulations are needed other than the great lakes. In 1996, Congress then passed the National Invasive Species Act (NISA) which directs ships to account for their ballast water outside of the US economic zone which was not enforced mandatorily on a ship by ship basis. Currently according to the National Ballast Information Clearinghouse only 30.4% vessels are filling reports as they enter the US Exclusive Economic Zone. Critics point out the Act has failed to stop Invasive Organisms going into the Great lakes where the regulations are enforced the most over the longest time.