"Area under its jurisdiction"
means an area
within which a State is entitled
to exercise
jurisdiction in accordance with
international law.
"Ballast Water" means
water and suspended solids
taken onboard a ship to control
trim, draught,
stability or stresses of a ship.
"Ballast Water Treatment"
means a
mechanical, physical, chemical
or biological process
to kill, remove or render infertile,
harmful or
potentially harmful organisms
and pathogens within
ballast water and sediments.
"Harmful Aquatic Organisms
and Pathogens"
means aquatic organisms and pathogens
which, if
introduced into the sea, estuaries
or fresh water
courses, may create hazards to
human health, harm
living resources and aquatic
life, damage amenities,
impair biological diversity or
interfere with other
legitimate uses of the sea.
"Sediments" means solid
matter settled out
of ballast water within a ship.
["Deep Sea Voyage"
means a voyage in which
a ship navigates in waters 500
meters or more in
depth and 200 nautical miles
or more from the nearest
land for periods of greater than
48 hours.]
["Voyage Other Than a Deep
Sea Voyage";
definition may be required.]
Proposed amendments
Regulation 1
Australia proposes to include
in the definitions:
"Voyage Other Than a Deep
Sea Voyage" means
a voyage in waters less than
200 nautical miles from
shore and less than 5OOm in depth
that is not in
coastal waters. The square brackets
would then be
removed from "Deep Sea Voyage". 1
Japan proposes to replace the
definition of
"Deep Sea Voyage" by
the following:
"Deep Sea Voyage" means
a voyage in which a
ship navigates in waters 500
meters or more in depth,
in open ocean and as far as possible
from shore. 2
Sweden proposes to delete the
definition of "Deep Sea
Voyage" and replace it by
the following:
"Open Ocean Voyage" means voyage
in
which en Ocean Exchanges should
be conducted.
"Open Ocean Exchange" means ballast
water exchange in deep water,in
open Ocean and as far
as possible from shore [,but
not less than 200 nautical
miles, and in water depths of
500 metres or more for
periods of greater than 48 hours.].3
1 Deep Sea Voyage" has been defined
as
being a voyage which is undertaken for
periods greater than
48 hours in waters of 500m in depth or
more and 200 nautical
miles from shore. This would be impractical
for many
countries, and voyages. In Australia's
case most shipping
coming to our ports from south eastern
and south western Asie
would not voyage in waters of sufficient
depth for sufficient
time to undertake one of the ballast
water management options
outlined in Appendix 1, Ballast Water
Management Code, Part
A, Section 1.
2 ships may not cross 200 nautical
mailes or more
from shore for periods of greater than
48 hours. even during
long voyages such as from Japan to Australia
or to Singapore.
3 We suggest a combination with
the wording of the
Guidelines (A.868(20), §9.2.1) to include
"as far as
possible from shore". Such a change
would require
further changes of the following provisions;
Regulations:
4.1(a) and 4.4; Annex 1, Part A, Section
1:, A.1. A.3. A.4
and Section 3.A.
MEPC 43/4
ANNEX 1
Page 5
Regulation 2: Application
Except where expressly
provided otherwise,
the provisions of this Annex
shall apply to all ships
that carry ballast water.
No proposed amendments
Australia comments 4
4 Australia strongly supports this Regulation
and
would not like to see it compromised
in any way. Unless these
Regulations apply to all ships (of course with appropriate
exemptions) little will be achieved through
the new Annex
that could not be otherwise achieved
unilaterally by Port
States. It is also consistent with the
IMO's position as
stated in Resolution A.868(20) and in
relation to its
precautionary approach agreed in Resolution
MEPC.67(37) and
obligations under the UNCED Agenda 21.
Consistent with these
obligations, Australia sees it as being
obligatory on the IMO
to apply the Amex to all ships unless
otherwise exempted.
