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Policy and Legal Framework and the Current Status of Ballast Water Management Requirements

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Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management

Part of the book series: Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology ((INNA,volume 8))

Abstract

There is a wealth of policy and management options addressing species introductions including conventions, treaties, multilateral agreements and codes of practices. Together these instruments support an internationally consistent management of specific transport vectors, quarantine or other biosecurity measures. This chapter lists selected global legal frameworks addressing species introductions. Chronologically, the first international instrument on unintentional introductions may have been the International Health Regulations issued in 1969 by the World Health Organization (WHO). These regulations were prepared to support public health care operations and to ensure the prevention of the spread of epidemics (e.g. plague, cholera). This chapter addresses legal frameworks addressing species introductions with the focus on ballast water related policy and legal frameworks. It gives an update on the current status of ballast water management requirements world-wide. A number of countries have taken the approach to nationally implement ballast water management requirements. We describe that most of these national requirements are based upon the IMO Ballast Water Exchange Standard, some countries refer to the Ballast Water Performance Standard and a minority addresses land-based ballast water reception facilities.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    http://whqlibdoc.who.int/publications/1983/9241580070.pdf, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  2. 2.

    http://www.ramsar.org/cda/en/ramsar-tourism-homeindex/main/ramsar/1%5E25816_4000_0__, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  3. 3.

    UNCLOS, Official Journal of SFRY – MP, no. 1/86, Article 1, Point 4.

  4. 4.

    UNCLOS, Articles 192 and 194. Article 1, Point 4.

  5. 5.

    Official Journal of RS, no. 30/96. Convention on Biological Diversity.

  6. 6.

    http://www.cbd.int/decision/cop/?id=11013, last accessed 02.04.2013.

  7. 7.

    http://www.un.org/esa/sustdev/documents/agenda21/english/Agenda21.pdf, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  8. 8.

    http://www.fao.org/docrep/005/v9878e/v9878e00.HTM, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  9. 9.

    ftp://ftp.fao.org/fi/DOCUMENT/eifac/eifac23/default.htm, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  10. 10.

    http://untreaty.un.org/ilc/texts/instruments/english/conventions/8_3_1997.pdf, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  11. 11.

    http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/species/who_we_are/about_the_species_survival_commission_/, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  12. 12.

    http://www.iucn.org/, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  13. 13.

    The Resolution noted that: “ballast water taken in waters which may contain bacteria of epidemic diseases, may, when discharged, cause a danger of spreading of the epidemic diseases to other countries”. The Resolution requested IMO and WHO to “initiate studies on that problem on the basis of any evidence and proposals which may be submitted by governments”.

  14. 14.

    MARPOL; International Convention for the Prevention of Pollution of Ships, Official Journal SFRY – MP, no. 2/85.

  15. 15.

    MARPOL, Article 2.

  16. 16.

    Canada does not have any regulations requiring brine treatment, but inspectors offer it as an option for ships that arrive with tanks having salinity below 30 ppt. It is a good option only if there is a small number of tanks to be treated, and usually for residual ballast (Wang et al. 2012; Bailey personal communication).

  17. 17.

    Ballast water that is taken on board a vessel in the United States waters of the Great Lakes Basin or in the French waters of the islands of Saint Pierre and Miquelon need not be managed unless it is mixed with other ballast water that was taken on board the vessel in any other area outside waters under Canadian jurisdiction and was not previously subjected to a management process.

  18. 18.

    Exceptions are also given when vessels are exclusively operated between ports, offshore terminals and anchorage areas on the west coast of North America north of Cape Blanco (Oregon, USA); or between ports, offshore terminals and anchorage areas on the east coast of North America north of Cape Cod (Massachusetts, USA) and ports, offshore terminals and anchorage areas in the Bay of Fundy, on the east coast of Nova Scotia, or on the south or east coast of the island of Newfoundland.

  19. 19.

    Should the BWE be impossible because of stability or safety reasons, for vessels on a voyage to the Great Lakes Basin, St. Lawrence River or Gulf of St. Lawrence, after notice is provided, an exchange may be conducted between December 1 and May 1, in the Laurentian Channel east of 63° west longitude where the water depth is at least 300 m.

  20. 20.

    Should on a voyage to a port, offshore terminal or anchorage area on the west coast of Canada BWE as required above be impossible an exchange may be conducted in an area at least 45 NM west of Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands and at least 45 NM west of a line extending from Cape Scott to Cape St. James where the water depth is at least 500 m, with the exception of waters within 50 NM of the Bowie Seamount (53°18′north latitude and 135°40′ west longitude).

  21. 21.

    The states with ballast water relevant rules include Arizona, California, Connecticut, Hawaii, Illinois, Indiana, Maine, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, Ohio, Rhode Island, Washington and Wisconsin (VGP 2013).

  22. 22.

    This rule originally consisted of two phases, Phase 1 being the IMO D-2 standard and Phase 2 would have required compliance with a more challenging discharge standard being 1,000 times more stringent than Phase 1.

  23. 23.

    These vessels are required to meet a different standard.

  24. 24.

    www.epa.gov/npdes/vessels, last accessed 02.04.2013.

  25. 25.

    Global Ballast Water Management Programme: Ballast Water News, no. 10, p. 4, and no. 7 p. 6.

  26. 26.

    http://globallast.imo.org/index.asp?page=reports/report1.htm, last accessed 02.04.2013.

  27. 27.

    http://www.ombros-consulting.com/?p=1164, last accessed 02.10.2012.

  28. 28.

    http://english.mofcom.gov.cn/aarticle/lawsdata/chineselaw/200211/20021100050602.html, assessed 13.06.2013.

  29. 29.

    www.daff.gov.au/aqis/avm/vessels/quarantine_concerns/ballast/australian-ballast-water-management-requirements, last accessed 07.02.2013.

  30. 30.

    www.epa.vic.gov.au/en/your-environment/water/ballast-water, last accessed 07.02.2013.

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Acknowledgements

We express our grateful thanks to Brian Elliott, Arnaud Leroy and Mirja Ikonen (EMSA) for their updated information on BWM developments in EU as well as to Violeta Velikova, and Ahmet Kideys (Black Sea Commission, Istanbul, Turkey), for providing insights of the BWM situation in the Black Sea countries. We also thank Jose Matheickal (IMO) for his comments on the Caspian Sea chapter. We further like to thank two anonymous reviewers of the U.S. chapter and Maurya Falkner (California State Lands Commission) for her review of the U.S. same location concept. Part of this publication has been produced with the financial assistance of the IPA Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme – strategic project Ballast Water Management System for Adriatic Sea Protection (BALMAS). The contents of this publication are the sole responsibility of authors and can under no circumstances be regarded as reflecting the position of the IPA Adriatic Cross-Border Cooperation Programme Authorities.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Gollasch Consulting (GoConsult), Hamburg, Germany

    Stephan Gollasch

  2. Dr. Matej David Consult, Korte, Izola, Slovenia

    Matej David

  3. Australian Government Department of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry, Canberra, Australia

    Karina Keast

  4. Ministry for Primary Industries; Strategy, Systems and Science Policy Directorate; Policy Branch, Wellington, New Zealand

    Naomi Parker

  5. Transport Canada Marine Safety, Sarnia, Canada

    Chris Wiley

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    Matej David

  2. Gollasch Consulting (GoConsult), Hamburg, Germany

    Stephan Gollasch

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Gollasch, S., David, M., Keast, K., Parker, N., Wiley, C. (2015). Policy and Legal Framework and the Current Status of Ballast Water Management Requirements. In: David, M., Gollasch, S. (eds) Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management. Invading Nature - Springer Series in Invasion Ecology, vol 8. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9367-4_4

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