ANNEX 15
STATEMENTS DELIVERED
1 |
STATEMENT DELIVERED BY THE DELEGATION OF VANUATU
FOR THE SOUTH
PACIFIC REGIONAL ENVIRONMENT PROGRAMME (SPREP)
TECHNICAL
SECRETARIAT ON THE PROPOSED LEGAL INSTRUMENT TO
CONTROL
TRANSLOCATION OF ORGANISMS IN SHIPS' BALLAST WATER |
The South Pacific Regional Environment Programme (SPREP) is
an inter-governmental regional organisation comprising 26
members, including 14 independent Pacific island countries, 8
Pacific island territories and 4 metropolitan countries.
The SPREP Technical Secretariat would like to register
concerns with the Marine Environment Protection Committee
(MEPC) of IMO in regard to the proposed new international
legal instrument being developed as the new international
regulatory regime for the transport of foreign marine
organisms in ships' ballast water.
SPREP shares IMO's concerns about and interest in the ballast
water issue, and strongly welcomes and supports the
development of this regulatory regime. SPREP understands that
the main management technique that will be used under this
regime is reballasting/ballast exchange at sea, whilst ships
are en-route from their source port to their destination
port.
SPREP understands that this technique is an effective risk
minimisation measure, but does not eliminate the possibility
of foreign marine species being introduced by ships.
Of concern to the Pacific islands region is the fact that
many transit shipping lanes pass through the region. Many
ships may reballast/exchange ballast at sea whilst within the
region in order to minimise the risk of introductions to
countries around the rim of the region.
The Pacific islands region may therefore be inadvertently
receiving introduced marine species by well-intentioned ships
that are reballasting/exchanging ballast whilst transiting
the region.
SPREP understands that this scenario has not been subject to
any systematic assessment, and the new regulatory regime for
ballast water is being developed without consideration of
this issue. It is also being developed without effective
representation of the region on the MEPC, which is overseeing
the development of the legal instrument.
There is a need to ensure that IMO assesses and considers the
risks posed to the Pacific islands region by shipping which
undertakes reballasting/ballast exchange whilst transiting
the region, and to ensure that the international regulatory
regime currently being developed for ballast water properly
considers the interests of the Pacific islands region.
In particular, as an initial step, SPREP would like to see
the areas of the Pacific ocean where reballasting/ballast
exchange takes place mapped, so that their proximity to the
Exclusive Economic zones of Pacific island countries can be
determined, and the potential risk of introductions of
foreign marine species to Pacific island countries from these
operations assessed. As many of the voluntary
reballasting/ballast exchange regimes currently administered
by Pacific rim countries such as Australia, Canada, New
Zealand and the USA require the locations of
reballasting/ballast exchange operations to be recorded by
ships' masters, such a mapping exercise should be relatively
straightforward.