Consideration of other activities informally introduced at
the meeting
Germany
2.8 A chemical treatment method was presented by
Germany. A substance based on H2O2, together with specific
"activators", is being developed and a series of
biological tests have been carried out in Germany.
Preliminary results revealed effectiveness of this substance
applied on adults and larval stages of the brine shrimp
Artemia salina. Further investigations on the effectiveness
of this product on phytoplankton and especially on the cysts,
as well the efficiency in sediments are in preparation. All
components are biodegradable / decomposable and with short
half-life. The costs are comparable with those of ballast
water exchange (approx 150 US$ per 1000 t ballast water) and
the substance can be added automatically to ballast water
when taken on board. The Working Group welcomed this
information and requested the submission of results of
further investigations at future meetings.
Japan
2.9 Information regarding an electromechanical
method for ballast water treatment was provided by Japan. In
the experiment using porous graphite electrodes acting as a
filtration system, in which low electrical power was applied,
marine organisms (planktonic larvae of benthos, zooplankton,
phytoplankton, bacteria) and resting cysts of the
dinoflagellate Alexandrium attached to the electrode surface
and they were killed by the electrochemical treatment. The
next step will be to apply this method to the high volumes of
ballast water carried on a vessel.
2.10 The Working Group emphasized the necessity for
developing alternative ballast water treatment methods.
Alternative techniques should be as effective, safe,
environmentally compatible and economical as ballast water
exchange. Criteria to assess alternative options for ballast
water exchange and criteria to evaluate their efficiency
should be developed in the future.
2 Ballast water full scale trial on board M/V Lavras, a
Brazilian product carrier, to evaluate the performance of the
"Dilution Method", developed in Brazil - Final
Technical Report. Petrobas, October 1998.
Vessels unable to carry out ballast water exchange
2.11 SIGTTO distributed an information paper
providing the summary of a brief survey concerning ballast
water exchange of LPG (Liquid Petroleum Gas) and LNG (Liquid
Natural Gas) vessels. Based on the responses to the
questionnaire it revealed that the majority of vessels would
be able to conduct ballast water exchange under the current
configuration. However, the following aspects needed to be
taken into consideration:
. 1 lack of sufficient stability information
available to determine if a ballast water exchange may be
carried out safely;
.2 ballast water exchange can be carried out
only under good weather conditions;
.3 problems with icing in areas in which LPG and
LNG vessels are trading when considering the flow-through
method;
.4 the significant number of ships which will
incur delays due to ballast water exchange (probably this
would increase because of the 200-mile requirement); and
. 5 the introduction of onshore ballast
facilities would require reconfiguration of the present
piping and pumping system of several vessels.
Regional Agreements
2.12 The United Kingdom pointed out that the
regulations should be sufficiently flexible to include
provisions for co-operation with regional agreements and
prepared a draft text on regional agreements (see annex 2).
Assuming that the regulations in regional instruments would
be similar to the draft regulations contained in MEPC
42/WP.1/Rev.1 and the draft Code contained in annex 2,
Regulations 4.1(b), 4.4 and 7.2(c) would be of particular
relevance.
2.13 The Secretariat suggested the text of Article
12 of the 1996 Protocol to the London Convention (see annex
3) as an example for co-operation between a global convention
and regional treaties. This article encourages Contracting
Parties with common interests in a given geographical area to
enter into regional agreements, taking into account
characteristic features of the regional marine environment,
The contents of such agreements should be consistent with
those of the Convention.
2,14 Members of the Working Group were invited to
consider this matter during the intersessional period and to
comment on it during the next meeting.
3 Review of Draft Regulations and Code
3.1 The Working Group reviewed the draft regulations
and the Code3 together with the explanatory memorandum
prepared by Australia (MEPC 42/WP.1/Rev. 1, MEPC 42/8/5).
The draft Regulations and Code, as revised so far, are shown
in annex 1.
3.2 Application (Regulation 2). As requested by the
Committee, the Working Group gave intensive attention to the
key issue regarding the application of the ballast water
provisions and developed two concepts of application (see
annex 4) identifying ships to which the provisions should
apply and those to which they might not apply.
3 The Secretariat had prepared a compilation
incorporating comments received intersessionally on the Code.
The Working Group, due to lack of time, did not consider the
Code in detail and the compilation as prepared by the
Secretariat is shown at annex 1
