NORTH CAROLINA 

 AND WASHINGTON 

 SEA GRANT 

 PROGRAMS 

 JOIN FORCES 

 TO CURB 

 UNWANTED 

 INTRODUCTIONS 

 OF BALLAST WATER 

 ORGANISMS 



AT LEFT: Close-up of the Tonsina's 

 ozone generator system. Electricity 

 discharged into each canister transforms 

 oxygen into ozone that kills ballast water 

 organisms. 



IMAGINE THIS... 



Bathed in early morning light, the Caspian 

 Prince, a 900-foot freighter leaves Antwerp, 

 Belgium, bound for the Port of Wilmington, 

 N.C., to fill its cargo hold with tobacco. 

 For this leg of its journey, the ship is empty... 

 or so it seems. 



Within the Caspian Prince's hold and 

 ballast tanks are millions of gallons ofseawater, 

 drawn from the northern European Iwrbor to 

 lend stability and trim to the vessel during its 

 two-week ocean crossing. 



The ballast water contains a mini- 

 menagerie of aquatic organisms — minute 

 jellyfish, larval mussels and barnacles, marine 

 worms, tiny shrimp-like copepods and juvenile 

 fish. These creatures share their confines with 

 an assortment of single-celled plants and even 

 snialler bacteria and viruses. Many of these 

 organisms can withstand the hardships of a 

 journey across the Atlantic Ocean. 



Wlien the ship docks in Wilmington and 

 empties its ballast tanks before loading its 

 cargo, the plants, animals arid microbes are 

 unintentionally released into the Cape Fear 

 River. Freed from their confiws, the ballast 

 water organisms may multiply and thrive. 



This scenario may be imaginary — 

 but the concern is real. 



It is likely how the zebra mussel, a 

 fingernail-sized mollusk from the Black. 

 Caspian and Azov seas entered the Great Lakes 

 in the late 1980s. Since their introduction, zebra 

 mussels have spread rapidly to all of the Great 

 Lakes and to waterways in many states, as well 

 as the Canadian provinces of Ontario and 

 Quebec. Growing in dense clumps, the mussels 

 can encrust and foul facilities at power plants, 

 fish ladders and industrial sites. To date, natural 

 resource managers have been powerless to stop 

 the mussels' spread. 



"Thousands of species of marine life are 

 currently being transported in ballast water," 

 says William Cooper, a Sea Grant researcher at 

 the University of North Carolina at Wilmington. 

 "It's unclear what long-term effects such large- 

 scale introductions will have, but the evidence to 

 date suggests there could be serious trouble 

 ahead," he adds. 



LITTLE CRITTERS, LARGE WOES 



Releases of ships' ballast water have been 

 blamed for the spread of the bacteria known to 

 cause cholera. In the Chesapeake Bay, for 

 example, researchers have identified a new strain 

 of Vibrio cholerae, the organism that causes 

 cholera, with origins in the Mediterranean or 

 North seas. Health officials in Delaware, 

 Maryland and Virginia must remain vigilant to 

 prevent outbreaks of the disease caused by this 

 particular strain. 



Introductions of exotic plankton species 

 can shift the balance of aquatic ecosystems. First 

 sighted in Cape May County, N.J., in 1988, the 

 non-indigenous Asian shore crab (Hemigrapsus 

 sanguineus) has rapidly expanded its range. This 

 small ( 1 .5-inch) but highly adaptable crustacean 

 now occupies coastal niches from Maine to 

 North Carolina. Researchers anticipate that the 

 crab will continue to proliferate, edging out 

 native species that share its habitats. 



The problem of unwanted ballast water 

 organisms is hardly limited to the East Coast. 

 In San Francisco Bay, for example, more than 

 230 non-native aquatic shore-dwelling species 

 already have taken over in mudflats, shoals and 

 along the coast. 



Continued 



COASTWATCH 7 



