The California State Lands Commission (SLC) has issued its 2015 Biennial Report on the California Marine Invasive Species Program referring to California’s ballast water management program and hull husbandry program. The report notes that no currently available ballast water management system meets California performance standards.
Key issues
Eighty-four percent (84%) of the 18,739 qualifying voyage arrivals to California ports between July 2012 and June 2014 retained all ballast water on board. These arrivals posed no risk for species introductions associated with ballast water discharges. Some vessels, however, must discharge ballast due to cargo operations, navigation, and/or safety concerns.
As ships increase in size, so does the capacity of their ballast water tanks and the volume of ballast water discharged. Since 2004, the total volume of ballast water discharged in California has increased 96% from 3.5 million metric tons (MMT) (2004a) to 6.9 MMT (2014a).
The increase in the volume of discharged ballast water in California is driven, in large part, by bulk vessels. Bulk vessels accounted for only 8% of vessel arrivals to California between July 2012 and June 2014, yet were responsible for 45% of total volume of ballast water discharged during that same time period. Moreover, the average reported volume of ballast water discharged per discharging bulk vessel has risen 49% from 9,889 MT in 2004 to 14,724 MT in 2014a.
The next phase of ballast water management involves the implementation of ballast water discharge standards and the development and use of ballast water treatment systems. The Commission recently concluded that ballast water treatment systems are not currently available to meet the California performance standards
Further details may be found by reading the report below:
Source: California SLC
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