2008 Summary of Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Working Group

Report claims ship operators also improved their compliance with ballast water requirements in 2008.

• March 2009 Executive Summary

The 2008 Summary of Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Management report was compiled by the Great Lakes Seaway Ballast Water Working Group (BWWG), comprised of representatives of the United States Coast Guard (USCG), the U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation (SLSDC), Transport Canada - Marine Safety (TCMS), and the Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation (SLSMC). The group’s mandate is to develop, enhance, and coordinate binational enforcement and compliance efforts to reduce the introduction of aquatic invasive species via ballast water. The BWWG is actively engaged and providing an energetic response to calls for tougher ballast water regulation of ocean-going ships transiting the Seaway.

In 2008, there was marked improvement over the prior year’s inspection program statistics in a number of areas, including ship compliance rates. In 2008, 99% of ships bound for the Great Lakes Seaway received a ballast tank exam. A total of 6704 ballast tanks, onboard 364 different ships, were sampled and had a 98.6% compliance rate. Ships that failed to properly manage their ballast tanks were required to either retain the ballast water and residuals on board, treat the ballast water in an environmentally sound and approved manner, or return to sea to conduct a ballast water exchange. In addition, 100% of ballast water reporting forms were screened to assess ballast water history, compliance, voyage information and proposed discharge location. The BWWG anticipates continued high ship compliance rates for the 2009 navigation season.

Today, ballast water management requirements in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Seaway System are among the most stringent in the world. Mandatory ballast water regulations that include saltwater flushing, detailed documentation requirements, increased inspections, and civil penalties provide a comprehensive regulatory enforcement regime to protect the Great Lakes Seaway System. U.S. Coast Guard regulations, Transport Canada’s Ballast Water Control and Management regulations, and the Seaway NOBOB regulation, require all ships destined for Seaway and Great Lakes ports from beyond the exclusive economic zone (EEZ) to exchange all their ballast tanks at sea. As a result, the risk of a ballast water mediated introduction of aquatic invasive species into the Great Lakes has been mitigated to extremely low levels.

Several issues are currently affecting ballast water management on the Great Lakes Seaway. The Coast Guard is engaged in a rulemaking that would set a performance standard for the quality of ballast water discharged in U.S. waters. The current status of that rulemaking is covered below. Additionally, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) recently began to regulate ballast water through National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES). Their recent rulemaking incorporates the Coast Guard’s mandatory ballast water management and exchange standards and supplemental ballast water requirements for vessels that carry ballast water.