BALLAST WATER
February 1st, 2004
BY KEITH NUTHALL
A NEW International Maritime Organisation convention will - upon ratification - tell ships to better manage ballast water releases, preventing transported species escaping into alien waters where they may cause ecological havoc. Ships would also record ballast water collection. Alien species have, for instance, invaded the Baltic, with the Pacific leathery sea squirt and Balanus improvisus barnacle fouling boats and industries. Also, the voracious Asian Carp has been discovered in the Great Lakes.
A NEW International Maritime Organisation convention will - upon ratification - tell ships to better manage ballast water releases, preventing transported species escaping into alien waters where they may cause ecological havoc. Ships would also record ballast water collection. Alien species have, for instance, invaded the Baltic, with the Pacific leathery sea squirt and Balanus improvisus barnacle fouling boats and industries. Also, the voracious Asian Carp has been discovered in the Great Lakes.
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