Tag: OSPAR

The coastal countries of the Baltic and North Seas, as well as the EU, are reviewing their jointly agreed procedure for applying and granting exemptions under the IMO Ballast Water Management Convention, at a meeting in Madrid, Spain. The coastal countries and EU originally developed the Joint Harmonized Procedure on such exemptions during 2012–13 within the regional marine protection Commissions, HELCOM and OSPAR, with active participation from ship owner organizations. The procedure adopted in 2013 supplements the global exemption guidelines provided by IMO. The procedure has by today been tested in practice in more than 13 ports in the Baltic Sea, North Sea, Iberian Atlantic and the Great Lakes of North America. These practical tests of the port sampling protocol, adopted as part of the Procedure, will help to improve cost-efficiency, scientific reliability and comparability across regions. The sampling protocol is intended for use in ports in the Baltic, North-East Atlantic and beyond, as the basis of risk assessments required by IMO as a justification of an exemption. The Meeting will also consider revisions to the adopted criteria, and current list, of harmful alien species – also called as “target species”. Defining and selecting these target species is central for the outcome ...

Leading scientists and policymakers meeting in Athens acknowledged that marine litter remained a "tremendous challenge" in almost all regions of the world, with significant socio-economic consequences and clear impacts on marine ecosystems. The three-day 16th Global Meeting of the Regional Seas Conventions and Action Plans was held amid growing concern worldwide about the threat that widespread plastic waste poses to marine life, with conservative estimates of overall financial damage of plastic to marine ecosystems standing at US$13 billion each year. Participating experts recommended a three-tier approach to marine litter, saying that the problem needed to be tackled - not just at the regional and national levels - but at the municipal level, because in most cases it is municipalities that have responsibility for solid-waste management. "If we are serious about reducing the amount of solid waste being dumped in oceans, or flowing through waterways into oceans and marine ecosystems, then we need to work at all levels, including with municipalities which deal with solid waste management at grassroots level," said Julian Reyna, Secretary-General of the Permanent Commission on the South Pacific, Ecuador. On the issue of microplastics - tiny pieces of plastic less than one millimetre in size that pollute ...

HELCOM issues report on alien species transported via ships HELCOM has released a report on alien species transported via ships' ballast water that threaten the sensitive Baltic ecosystem and may also have negative impacts to the economy and human health.The report is the final outcome of HELCOM ALIENS 3 project (2012-2013) which further tested and proposed improvements to the joint HELCOM-OSPAR sampling protocol, specifying methods and means for spotting marine alien species in ports. The project has also updated the related online port survey database and risk assessment tool, shared with the North-East Atlantic marine environment protection commission OSPAR, which went live last week.The International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships Ballast Water and Sediments (BWM convention) specifies a number of measures in order to prevent, minimize and ultimately eliminate the transfer of Harmful Aquatic Organisms and Pathogens through the control and management of ships Ballast Water and Sediments.However, under certain low risk conditions, the BWM convention Regulation A-4 enables a party to grant exemptions to any requirements to apply ballast water management for ships (regulation B-3) or additional measures (regulation C-1). Whether or not a specific case can be defined as falling under such low risk conditions ...

An online risk assessment tool for alien species transfers via the ballast water of commercial ships has been released jointly by OSPAR and HELCOM

The OSPAR Commission adopted a landmark Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter along with measures to protect 16 vulnerable species and habitats