29 th of May 2013

1. Constanta Maritime University ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT OF SHIPS’ BALLAST WATER 29th of May 2013 Student: GhindaSergiu Coordinator: NicoletaAcomi

2. THE AIM • The introduction and spread of alien species by ballast water poses a serious threat to maritime environment, economy and human health and safety. In the case of ballast water, species unintentionally introduced through this vector have had wide-ranging impacts on the aquaculture and freshwater fisheries, but not on the shipping industry. • The paper presents how the alien species has a negative impact in the harbors environment.

3. THE NECESSITY OF USING BALLAST WATER • Modern shipping cannot operate without ballast water, which provides balance and stability to ships. • When a ship is empty of cargo, it fills with ballast to maintain stability, trim and structural integrity. • The ballast is discharged when the ship loads cargo. • A potentially serious environmental problem arises when this ballast water contains aquatic life.

4. Invasive species in ballast water Ballast water cycle

5. There are thousands of aquatic species that may be carried in ships’ ballast water; basically anything that is small enough to pass through ships’ ballast water intake ports and pumps. • These include bacteria and other microbes, micro-algae, small invertebrates and the eggs, spores, seeds, cysts and larvae of various aquatic plant and animal species.

6. Life cycle of the Blue Crab showing Macro and Micro organism stages

7. Impacts • The vast majority of aquatic species carried in ballast water do not survive the voyage, as the ballasting and de-ballasting cycle and environmental conditions inside ballast tanks can be quite hostile to organism survival. When all factors are favorable, an introduced species may survive to establish a reproductive population in the host environment. It may even become invasive, out-competing native species and multiplying into pest proportions. • As a result, whole ecosystems are being changed.

8. A cluster of zebra mussels on a small rock. In the USA, the European Zebra Mussel Dreissena polymorpha has infested over 40% of internal waterways and is a major problem for industry, fouling all available hard surfaces, including cooling water intake pipes.

9. Undariapinnatifida In southern Australia, New Zealand and the Mediterranean, the Asian kelp Undaria pinnatifida is invading new areas rapidly, displacing the native seabed communities.

10. Mnemiopsisleidyi In the Black Sea, the filter-feeding North American jellyfish Mnemiopsisleidyihas on occasion reached densities of 1kg of biomass per m2. It has depleted native plankton stocks to such an extent that it has contributed to the collapse of entire Black Sea commercial fisheries.

11. Types of impacts • Impacts caused can be divided into three main categories; • ecological, • economic and • human health, • although they are all inter-linked and influenced each other.

12. Ecological impacts Should an introduced species become a successful invader in its new environment, it can cause a range of ecological impacts. These include: • competing with native species for space and food, • preying upon native species, • altering habitat, • altering environmental conditions (e.g. increased water clarity due to mass filter-feeding), • altering the food web and the overall ecosystem, and • displacing native species, reducing native biodiversity and even causing local extinctions.

13. The ecological impacts of harmful aquatic bio- invasions have an important feature: they are always irreversible and also they increase in severity over time. In this case it’s worthing to compare these impacts ( aquatic bio-invasions) with those of better- known form of a ship (sourced pollution and major oil spills). When a major oil spill occur, the ecological impacts take place very quikly, are catastrophic and acute, but also highly visible. These impact will decrease over time because the oil degrades thanks to the rehabilitation activities. If the oil spills are easy to remove through the means used by people, an invading species it’ hard and almost impossible to remove. Until now, there are no recorded cases of succesful control of aquatic invasive species. The cases of succesful control and eradication have been in the moment when the invading species was detected at a very early stage and inside enclosed waters (marina or small bay ) treated with biocides.

14. Economic impacts Until the introduction of Sea lamprey (Petromyzonmarinus) to the Great Lakes in 1955, there was no general understanding that alien species could be both an environmental and an economic problem. Sea lampreys have decimated lake trout, whitefish and chub populations in the Great Lakes resulting in severe losses to the Great Lakes recreational and commercial fisheries. The Great Lakes Fishery Commission reported that sea lamprey control, assessment and research cost $13.5 million in 2001 .

15. Other two classic examples of major economic impacts from aquatic bio-invasions are : 3. The north American Comb Jelly over the Black Sea Native to American waters, Mnemiopsis was first recorded in the Black Sea in 1982, introduced via ships’ ballast water. It feeds by actively hunting zooplankton and exhibits massive fluctuations in population density in response to environmental conditions. 2. The European zebra mussel over the Great Lakes The cost of attempting to clear Zebra Mussels from industrial facilities in the USA alone was between US$750 million and US$1 billion between 1989 and 2000 (O’Neil 2000).

16. Carcinusmaenas The European green crab (Carcinusmaenas) has invaded many parts of the world, where its appetite for commercially valuable clams and crabs has threatened important fisheries. Within Atlantic Canada the green crab was first observed in the early 1950s after they had been present in New England for over 100 years. It has recently entered the Gulf of St. Lawrence through the Canso Strait and is expanding its range much more rapidly than it did along the outer coast of Nova Scotia.

17. Human health impacts Alien species can also destroy the environment and threaten human health and safety. For example, the Chinese mitten crab (Eriocheirsinensis), which is able to live in both fresh and salt water, was found in the lower St. Lawrence River in 2004. They can travel hundreds of miles through inland waterways and reproduce in enormous numbers, burrowing into riverbanks and causing soil erosion and destruction of levees.

18. The crabs are a danger to human health because they are a host of the oriental lung fluke (Paragonimuswestermani), a parasite that can penetrate the skin or be ingested and can cause severe illness in humans and other mammals. The human health implications of ballast water transfers distinguish this issue starkly from other ship-based environmental issues. Nobody has ever died directly from the effects of a ship sourced oil spill; people may fall ill and die from ballast water introductions.

19. Ballast Water Performance Standards • The International Maritime Organization (IMO) has elaborated an International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments. Viable organisms type Maximum concentration allowed in BW

20. Ballast Water Management Methods

21. Conclusions • The introduction of invasive aquatic species into new environments by ships’ ballast water attached to ships’ hulls and via other vectors has been identified as one of the four greatest threats to the world’s oceans. The other three are land-based sources of marine pollution, overexploitation of living marine resources and physical alteration/destruction of marine habitat. • The ecological, economic and even human health impacts of aquatic bio-invasions are significantly more severe than all other forms of ship-sourced pollution. • The problem of ballast water and aquatic bio-invasions must be addressed on an international basis involving cooperation between all countries and the shipping and port industries.

22. References • Internatione Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballsat Water and Sediments, International Maritime Organization 2004, „Guidance document on arrangements for responding to emergency situations involving ballast water operations”, BWM.2/Circ.17, 20 October 2008 • N. Acomi, “Reducing pollution produced by ballast water system of marine vessels”, Doctoral thesis, Mechanical Engineering Faculty, Lower Danube University, Galati, Romania, 2011 • Prince William Sound Regional Citizens’ Advisory Council, „Technology Viability Rating System”, Fact sheet for an explanation of the rationg system, 2005 • Dames & Moore, „Ballast water exchange and treatment”, California Association of Port Authorities, Phase 1 final report, Pacific Merchant Shipping Association, 1999 • Ballast Water Record Book, Vessel’son board journal, 2010 • J.B. Woodwar, M.G. Parsons, A.M. Troesch, „Ship operational and safety aspects of ballast water exchange at sea”, Marine Technology 31(4), pp. 315-326, 1994 • D. Oemcke,„The Treatment of Ships’ Ballast Water”, EcoPorts Monograph Series No. 18,Ports Corporation of Queensland Brisbane, Australia, 102 pp, 1999 • M. Tamburri, K. Wasson, M. Matsuda, „Ballast Water Deoxygenation can prevent species introductions while reducing ship corrosion”, Biological Conservation 103 (2002) 331-341, 2002 • Ballast water treatment system, PureBallast 2.0, available on line www.alfalaval.com

23. Thank you for your attention!