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Ballast water discharge typically contains a variety of biological materials, including plants, animals, viruses, and bacteria. These materials often include non-native, nuisance, and exotic species that can cause extensive ecological and economic damage to aquatic ecosystems, along with serious human health issues including death.
Ballast water discharges are believed to be the leading source of invasive species in U.S. marine waters, thus posing public health and environmental risks, as well as significant economic cost to industries such as water and power utilities, commercial and recreational fisheries, agriculture, and tourism. [1]
This water, called ballast water, which contains aquatic organisms typical of the port of arrival, is stored in ballast tanks and is ultimately discharged at the port of departure when the ship is ready to be re-loaded. During this process, aquatic organisms capable of surviving in ballast water are released into new environments and can ...
A cargo ship discharging ballast water into the sea. Ballast water discharges by ships can have a negative impact on the marine environment. [1] Cruise ships, large tankers, and bulk cargo carriers use a huge amount of ballast water, which is often taken on in the coastal waters in one region after ships discharge wastewater or unload cargo, and discharged at the next port of call, wherever ...
Ballast water discharge typically contains a variety of biological materials, including plants, animals, viruses, and bacteria. These materials often include non-native, nuisance, and exotic species that can cause extensive ecological and economic damage to aquatic ecosystems, along with serious human health issues including death.
Organisms targeted by NISA are categorized as aquatic nuisance species, including in particular zebra mussels and Eurasian ruffe.To extend upon NANPCA, NISA authorizes regulation of ballast water, a key factor in the spread of aquatic invasive species; funding for prevention and control research; regional involvement with the Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force; and education and technical ...
These discharges have the potential to impair water quality, adversely affecting aquatic environments and increasing the risks to human health. While sewage discharges have potentially wide-ranging effects on all aquatic environments, the effects may be especially problematic in marinas, slow-moving rivers, lakes and other bodies of water with ...
An invasive species is a species not native to a particular location which can spread to a degree that causes damage to the environment, human economy or human health. [19] In 2008, Molnar et al. documented the pathways of hundreds of marine invasive species and found shipping was the dominant mechanism for the transfer of invasive species in ...