87 



The regulations allow various compliance alternatives. Vessels 

 must manage ballast in one of four ways: exchange their ballast 

 in deep ocean in order to flush out the ballast tanks and 

 introduce a salinity level that should be incompatible with 

 organisms taken on in fresh water; retain their ballast water on 

 board while in the Great Lakes; discharge ballast water to a 

 reception facility; or use an approved alternative method. 

 Furthermore, these vessels must record where they exchange their 

 ballast, the original source of the ballast, and where they will 

 discharge the exchanged ballast. To be in compliance, exchanged 

 ballast water must have a minimum salinity level of 30 parts per 

 thousand. Realistically, the only method of ballast water 

 management currently available to vessels entering the Great 

 Lakes is ballast water exchange. There are no reception 

 facilities yet available and vessels must discharge ballast as 

 part of normal cargo operations. In developing the regulations, 

 the Coast Guard recognized that ballast water exchange may not be 

 100% effective and that innovative methods of ballast water 

 management should be encouraged. This is the concept which 

 provides the rationale for allowing alternative methods that have 

 been previously approved by the Guard. 



Since the promulgation of the original regulations, the Act has 

 been amended to require ballast water management for vessels 

 entering the Hudson River north of the George Washington Bridge. 

 These regulations are currently under development and will be in 

 place by the November 1994 deadline. 



