Great Lakes Ballast Water Management Report.
BWWG meets regularly throughout the year to develop, enhance and coordinate
bi-national enforcement and compliance efforts to reduce the introduction of
aquatic invasive species via ballast water.
The BWWG is comprised of:
* U.S. Coast Guard – Ninth District
http://cgweb.comdt.uscg.mil/g-ms/g-mso/estandards.htm
* Transport Canada – Marine Safety http://www.tc.gc.ca/en/menu.htm
* U.S. Saint Lawrence Seaway Development Corporation
http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/environment/ballast-water/index.html
http://www.tc.gc.ca/en/menu.htm
* Canadian St. Lawrence Seaway Management Corporation
http://www.greatlakes-seaway.com/en/environment/ballast-water/index.html
Highlights from the report include a marked improvement over the prior
year’s inspection program statistics in a number of areas, including ship
compliance rates. Some of those highlights are:
* 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.
* 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.
Click here to view the full report.
