54 



11 



treataent, altering water salinity, sedlaent BanageHent) 

 Overall Ballast Water Operations 



(deballast/no reballastlng; exchange; deballast or exchange in 

 designated back-up zones; discharge (offload) to reception vessel; non- 

 discharge of water; return to sea: deballast/no reballasting or 

 exchange) 



These approaches now require critical and iaaediate field testing, and 

 coordination with any testing and evaluation programs being conducted by 

 other nations. 



Numerous complications attend the establishment of ballast water 

 management systems. Ballast pathways are replete with exceptions, 

 novelties, and irregularities. By the very nature of the thousands of 

 possible combinations of vessels, tanks, and ballast histories, 

 ballasting management — as with all quarantine systems — possesses 

 potentially numerous holes in the dike. Integral to an understanding of 

 any quarantine system is that the system is a filter, but not an 

 absolute barrier. 



Ballast water may be released as vessels pass along coastlines, and 

 coastal traffic may carry invading species from large ports to smaller 

 ones, such that no coastal sites, whether they receive direct 

 international shipping or not, are iomiune to vessel-mediated invasions. 



