Published Resources Details
Conference Paper
- Title
- Fifteen years of managing ballast water to minimise the biological threat to Australia's marine environment - Past, present and future
- In
- Proceedings of Pacific 2004 International Maritime Conference
- Imprint
- 2004, pp. 119-129
- Url
- https://search.informit.org/doi/10.3316/informit.215670363336696
- Abstract
Following the identification of non-indigenous toxic marine dinoflagellates in the port of Hobart in the late 1980's, ship's ballast water has been recognized by the Australian Government and the International Maritime Organisation (IMO) as a pollutant of major environmental consequence. As a result a variety of Voluntary and Mandatory Guidelines and Regulations have been implemented in various countries in an attempt to minimise the likelihood of the spread of harmful organisms and their effects on the environment, economy and human health. Voluntary ballast water quarantine guidelines were first introduced into Australia in 1990 by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS), and in July 2001 AQIS implemented mandatory Ballast Water Management regulations that require all international vessels to manage their ballast and not discharge high-risk water in Australian ports.
At the international level, IMO initiated a process to develop and implement a set of regulations and standards in a Ballast Water Management Convention that is scheduled for presentation to a Diplomatic Conference for acceptance in February 2004. In conjunction with these actions, a range of research and development projects have been undertaken around the world to identify the major biological issues of concern and to assess, develop and demonstrate a variety of management processes and potential treatment technologies to manage, remove, kill or inactivate harmful organisms.
Despite many years of effort and the expenditure of substantial funds, to date 95% (volumetric) mid-ocean ballast water exchange process remains the only internationally approved treatment process. A Decision Support System (DSS) based on assessment and management of the overall biological risks, to be applied in conjunction with ballast water exchange, is currently in use in Australia. Exchange of ballast water does have a number of limitations and a number of new technologies including heat treatment, filtration, ultraviolet irradiation and chemicals have been predicted to offer improved biological efficiencies. However significant challenges still remain and will continue in the future to ensure that safe, practical, cost effective, environmentally acceptable, and biologically effective treatment options (initially using best available technology) that will effectively mitigate the risks to a justifiable and acceptable levels are demonstrated and implemented.
This paper reviews the developments over the past 15 years both in Australia and overseas and highlights some of the challenges for the future.