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Context: The Tamil Nadu Water Resources Department (WRD) has charged that Kamarajar Port is the main reason for the spread of the invasive species by not regulating the ballast water from ships.

 Details

What is Ballast water?

Background

• Ballast is a heavy substance, such as rocks or water, placed in such a way as to improve stability and control  to a ship when it unloads its cargo.
• Prior to the 1880s, ships used solid ballast materials such as rocks and sand, which people had to shovel into and out of cargo holds.

Water as a ballast substance

• With the introduction of steel-hulled ships and automatic pumping technologies in the 20th century, water became a safer ballast material for ships.
• When ships need ballast, water is easily pumped into ballast tanks from the sea or the inland waters where the ship is located, which adds weight to the bottom and sides of the vessel.

• Ballast water is pumped out into the ocean when it is no longer needed (when the weight of the ship needs to be lightened) – for example, when the ship is taking on cargo.
• Ballast tanks are an integral part of a ship’s design with their number and size varying according to the vessel’s type and construction.
• Ships can have a range of ballast capabilities and capacities, but generally ballast equates to 25% to 30% of the weight the ship can carry – including cargo, fuel, crew, passengers, food, and water – or its dead weight tonnage.

Why water as ballast?

This practice reduces stress on the hull, provides transverse stability, improves propulsion and manoeuvrability, and compensates for weight changes in various cargo load levels and due to fuel and water consumption.

Why is ballast water an issue?

Spread of threatening Invasive Alien Species

Loading and unloading untreated ballast water can pose a major threat to the environment, public health and the economy as ships become a carrier for the transfer and spread of threatening invasive aquatic species, from one part of the world’s oceans to another.

Examples of ship-borne introductions of invasive alien species worldwide since the 1980s.
Species	Origin	Location
Dinoflagellate Gymnodinium catenatum	Japan	Australia
American Comb Jellyfish Mnemiopsis leidyi	North America	Black and Azov seas
Polychaete worm Marenzelleria viridis	North America	Western and Northern Europe
American razor clam Ensis americanus	North America	Western and Northern Europe
Japanese mussel Musculista senhousia	Japan	New Zealand
Swimming crab Charybdis helleri	Mediterranean	Colombia, Venezuela, Cuba, United States
Seastar Asterias amurensis	Japan	Australia
Mitten crab Eriocheir sinensis	China	Western and Northern Europe, North America

When ballast water is pumped into a ship, sediment and microscopic organisms are also transferred into the ballast tanks.

These organisms include bacteria, microbes, small invertebrates, eggs, cysts, and larvae of various species.

Many of these organisms are able to survive for extended periods in inhospitable environments, including a ship’s ballast tanks.

When the ballast water is discharged, the organisms are released into the local marine environment.

 Without their natural predators and given the right conditions these foreign species will not only survive but can also flourish, becoming invasive and threatening and even eliminating resident populations.

Actions taken internationally to tackle the situation

Ballast Water Management  Convention(BWM):

• BWM Convention of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) came into force in 2017 to help prevent the spread of potentially harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens in ships’ ballast water.
• From September 8, 2017, ships must manage their ballast water so that aquatic organisms and pathogens are removed or rendered harmless before the ballast water is released in a new location.
• Recently constructed ships with functioning ballast water management systems continuously take a small portion of the ballast water and dose it with chemicals to free it from biological organism before the water is pumped out.
• Ships built before the BWM convention that don’t have these systems are required to exchange the ballast water they took in a port with “neutral” water from the middle of the oceans enroute to the loading port.

Vulnerability of Australia and New Zealand.

• Among the countries most serious about preventing ship ballast water damaging their marine ecosystems are Australia and New Zealand.
• Australia, as a major supplier of coal and iron and other raw materials, sees much ballast water pumping out in ports.
• Australia is home to ecologically sensitive areas such as the Great Barrier Reef where such water can cause immense harm.
• Ships calling on Australian ports are often subject to rigorous checks including of ballast water management systems.

Indian Context

In India, scientists have recorded nearly 30 invasive species coming from ship ballast water.

Some examples:

Charru  mussel

• Among the most harmful in recent times is the charru mussel, Mytella Rigata.
• In the Pulicat lake in Andhra Pradesh, Ashtamudi lake in Kerala, this mussel has replaced almost all other species.
• Its survival rate and egg production is very high.
• Though of marine origin, it can survive even in fresh water.

What is India’s position in BWM?

• India is not a contracting state.
• This means that there is no obligation on the part of ships calling on Indian ports to enforce the BWM convention.
• While other rules such as relating to discharge of oil apply in Indian ports, the discharge of ballast water brought in from other countries is not subject to checks or regulation.

Initiatives by India  for management of ballast water.

Indian scientists develop technology to manage ballast water

• The scientists have got a patent from the United States Patent Office for a treatment technology for the ballast water that is not only highly effective, but is also all more eco-friendly as it does not use any chemicals.
• The technology is based on the principle of ‘hydrodynamic cavitation.'
• There is specific action plans for management of ballast water for four ports — two in Bombay and one each in Goa and Visakhapatnam — in collaboration with the Directorate-General of Shipping and the Port Authorities later expanded to create a national integrated action to cover the remaining eight major ports in the country.
• The action plan included an electronic reporting system, whereby ships sailing in and out of these ports would have to declare where they were coming from, the quantum of ballast water and other such details.

Way forward

• Develop and implement a ballast water management plan.
• India should become a contract state to BWM convention.
• Obtain a certificate attesting that their ballast management plan meets the Convention’s requirements in India.
• Keep records of ballast water regulations and be subject to inspections to verify compliance with the regulations.
• Comply with a performance standard to limit organisms discharged.

What are Invasive Alien Species?

• Invasive alien species are plants, animals, pathogens and other organisms that are non-native to an ecosystem, and which may cause economic or environmental harm or adversely affect human health.
• They impact adversely upon biodiversity, including decline or elimination of native species - through competition, predation, or transmission of pathogens - and the disruption of local ecosystems and ecosystem functions.
• Invasive alien species, introduced and/or spread outside their natural habitats, have affected native biodiversity in almost every ecosystem type on earth and are one of the greatest threats to biodiversity.
• Since the 17th century, invasive alien species have contributed to nearly 40% of all animal extinctions.

Details about Invasive Alien Species: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/how-invasive-species-threaten-natural-ecosystems

Invasive Species in India: https://www.iasgyan.in/daily-current-affairs/mytella-strigata#:~:text=Invasive%20species%2C%20also%20known%20as,to%20reproduce%20and%20spread%20rapidly.

 Source

https://www.coastalwiki.org/wiki/Ballast_water

https://maritime-professionals.com/what-is-ballast-water/

https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/ahmedabad/aliens-in-our-seas/articleshow/110244268.cms

https://www.cbd.int/idb/2009/about/what#:~:text=Invasive%20alien%20species%20are%20plants,or%20adversely%20affect%20human%20health.

PRACTICE QUESTION Discuss about how modern shipping industry affecting marine ecosystem and what are the measures taken globally to reduce or eliminate it’s impact? 150 words