Bridges Trade BioRes • Volume 4 • Number 3 • 20th February 2004

New Regulations Keeping Invasives Out of Ballast Water

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On 13 February over 100 countries signed a UN treaty that seeks to regulate ballast water management in the shipping industry. The two-tiered treaty, 10 years in the making, is sponsored by the UN’s International Maritime Organisation (IMO). The first tier includes regulations that apply to all ships, while the second tier gives countries the option to take additional measures before allowing ships to enter their ports. After much deliberation, countries agreed on a phase-in period for different regulations, beginning in 2009 and ending in 2016. However, Andreas Inveteraas, representing WWF, expressed concern that the treaty could be slow to make an impact. “The huge challenge now will be to ratify the treaty — and that could take years,” he said.

Ballast water is taken on by ships to provide balance and stability, but in the process marine species are absorbed and can travel thousands of miles. Once let out in new environments, these alien species can disrupt foreign ecosystems. WWF estimates that 4,000 different species can be carried in a typical ship’s ballast at any one time. IMO Secretary General Efthimios Mitropoulos elaborated on the problem, saying that “Unlike oil spills and other marine pollution caused by shipping, exotic organisms and marine species cannot be cleaned up or absorbed into the oceans. Once introduced, they can be virtually impossible to eliminate and in the meantime may cause havoc”. For example, the zebra mussel that arrived in the US with ballast water has polluted local water supply and damaged underwater infrastructure, resulting in cleanup costs to the tune of almost USD 1 billion between 1989 and 2000. Experts fear that the problem is worsening due to increased globalisation and international trade, as 90 percent of the world’s traded goods are carried by sea. How to deal with alien species was also discussed at the Conference of the Parties to the Convention on Biological Diversity (see related story this issue).

“UN Conference on Ballast Water Opens,” UN WIRE, 10 February 2004; “UN Agrees on Laws Against Alien Marine Invaders,” REUTERS, 16 February 2004.