Tag: invasive species

As of July 2016, the Coast Guard has determined that 56 foreign administration approved ballast water management systems (BWMS) have met the criteria for acceptance as AMS. To be eligible for use, an AMS must be installed on a vessel prior to the date the vessel is required to comply with the ballast water discharge standard (BWDS).

US Congress voted a proposal establishing a nationwide policy for dumping ballast water into U.S. waterways. Environmental groups opposed to this plan, urging U.S. Senate to protect communities, environment, and economy from ballast water invaders such as zebra and quagga mussels, which have wreaked economic havoc from the Great Lakes to the West Coast.

A new convention under the IMO is due to come into force during 2016 regarding the management of ship’s ballast water. This convention may require new surveys and studies regarding marine invasive non-native species. HHA is getting ahead of any legislation by initiating a study based upon the extensive data that it has already collated in this area.

Ballast water is considered one of the greatest threats to our planet's biodiversity, a dangerously efficient medium for spreading invasive species that can wreak havoc on aquatic habitats. Along with the growth in global shipping, the invasion process has been picking up steam in recent decades, as have efforts to stem this destructive tide.

A new study published identifies a set of features common to all ocean ecosystems that provide a visual diagnosis of the health of the oceans

 California Governor Brown signed into law AB 1312  amending the state’s Marine Invasive Species Act. The State Lands Commission (SLC) issued a letter summarizing the measure, which takes effect on 1 January 2016.The Marine Invasive Species Act, which generally applies to all vessels carrying or capable of carrying ballast water into the coastal waters of the state after operating outside of the coastal waters of the state and to all ballast water and associated sediments taken on a vessel, imposes specified requirements on the master, owner, operator, or person in charge of one those vessels to minimize the uptake and release of nonindigenous species. The act requires the State Lands Commission to adopt regulations governing ballast water management practices for vessels arriving at a California port from a port outside of the Pacific Coast Region, as defined.This bill would define the term “port” for purposes of the act to mean any port or place in which a vessel was, is, or will be anchored or moored, or where a vessel will transfer cargo. The act requires the master, owner, operator, agent, or person in charge of a vessel carrying, or capable of carrying, ballast water, that visits a California port, to provide ...

Untreated ballast water discharge from ships can spread living organisms and even pathogens across the world thereby introducing non-native or invasive species into the local environment. Scientists at Helmholtz Zentrum München therefore recommend using physical treatment processes such as filtration rather than electrochemical disinfection, which creates countless potentially toxic compounds. These are the findings of a recent study published in the journal Environmental Science and Technology.In order to prevent the transfer of harmful organisms, ships' ballast water is often subjected to electrochemical disinfection. "However, our analyses show that electrochemical disinfection creates numerous so-called disinfection by-products (DBPs)," explains Prof. Philippe Schmitt-Kopplin, who led the study. He and his team at the Analytical BioGeoChemistry (BGC) research unit at the Helmholtz Zentrum München, working in close collaboration with colleagues in the US, compared samples of treated and untreated ballast water.Using high-resolution mass spectrometry, they discovered that treatment led to the formation of 450 new, diverse compounds, some of which had not previously been described as disinfection products or been structurally categorized.Using alternative methods"Until the toxicological features of these compounds are fully clarified, we recommend a cautious approach to disinfecting ballast water," Schmitt-Kopplin notes. According to the scientists, the study -- the first in-depth ...

  The State Government of Australia, has taken action to help the shipping and boating industry protect Western Australia’s marine environment from invasive marine pests. Fisheries Minister Ken Baston announced a new risk assessment tool for use by managers of commercial, non-trading, petroleum and commercial fishing vessels coming into WA ports along the coast.   It enables operators to easily assess risk and better manage their vessels, before they leave their last ports of call on their way to WA, by reducing biofouling and reducing the risk of aquatic pests making the journey too. At the launch of Vessel Check in Fremantle today, Mr Baston said the online tool was a welcome initiative to help prevent the introduction of invasive marine species from international and interstate vessel movements. “Vessels are the primary way marine pests are moved to new areas, and the shipping industry and resources sector, together with the Department of Fisheries, identified the need a couple of years ago for a standardised tool to help vessel managers reduce the risk of moving pests into WA in biofouling,” Mr Baston said. “Users of Vessel Check can test different scenarios for their vessel, so they can see how different management actions ...

  A small team of math and biological researchers with the University of Adelaide, has found that the amount of ballast water being dumped into the waters around Australia more than doubled over a thirteen year study period increasing the possibly of invasive species introduction. In their paper published in Royal Society Open Science, the team describes how they studied historic ballast data to create a model of ballast dumping, and discovered that most of the increase can be attributed to mining operations. When big ships unload their cargo, they are left mostly empty, which creates a weight distribution problem—to fix that problem, giant pumps are used to fill ballast tanks with water from the sea in which they reside. Unfortunately, those pumps also suck up local organisms, which then live in the ballast tanks for some period of time as the ship travels to a place to pick up cargo. Upon arrival, the water in the ballast tanks is pumped back into the sea in anticipation of new added cargo. But, as scientists, environmentalists, sports enthusiasts and others have found, that ballast water may contain an organism that is able to take up residence (dubbed an invasive species) in ...