Toward Science Based Ballast Standards

PROGRAM OVERVIEW

The Northeast-Midwest Institute has a long track record of addressing the problem of aquatic invasive species (AIS), especially on the Great Lakes. AIS are a major threat to Great Lakes fisheries, tourism, and ecological health. AIS eat away at the value of our region’s coastal resources by impairing human uses and degrading the natural biota, including the region’s valuable freshwater and marine fishery. The leading vector for AIS introductions is waterborne transportation to the region from abroad. (Other important vectors of aquatic nuisance species include accidental escape from aquaculture facilities, intentional stocking of food or recreational sources, intentional release of unwanted pets, release of fishing bait, and accidental release from plant and animal trade). State, federal and international regulations are coming into force with standards stipulating a maximum concentration of live individuals discharged to US harbors to prevent further introductions of AIS. However, the effectiveness of these standards, which have been set with little direct empirical basis, is unknown. That is, the relationship between numbers and rates of live organisms discharged and establishment of new populations in the Great Lakes is largely conceptual; we know that the fewer organisms discharged the safer the discharge is for the receiving system, but little else. Yet understanding the “risk-release” relationship is critical to ecosystem protection and commerce. If the standards do not adequately diminish risk, aquatic invasions will continue at an unacceptable rate. If they are overly stringent, the regulations will add unnecessary costs to shipping and possibly cause unnecessary active substance discharges to the lakes. As a result, the question of “How clean is clean?” when it comes to AIS in ballast discharge to the Great Lakes is a matter of intense controversy among stakeholders leading to costly, conflicting regulatory responses.

The NEMWI project “Revealing How Clean Is Clean: Great Lakes Invasive Species” is generating an efficient and effective path through empirical research to resolve the guesswork around regulating discharges to the Great Lakes of live organisms in ballast water. Specifically, the NEMWI project is developing ways to measure the relationship between AIS discharge rates and AIS establishment rates reflecting Great Lakes ecosystem realities. The project uses as a starting point the conceptual approach recommended in the National Research Council/National Academy of Sciences report, Assessing the Relationship between Propagule Pressure and Invasion Risk in Ballast Water, and describes whether and how it could be implemented in the Great Lakes region. The project develops a dual approach, including:

  • Controlled experiments using mesocosms, i.e., 1000 Liter containers that combine natural environmental factors with controlled experimental conditions, to assess consequences of inoculations of various initial starting densities of surrogate invaders to the Great Lakes at NEMWI’s Great Ships Initiative facility; and
  • Environmental field studies directly correlating organism discharges from ships and rates of establishment in selected Great Lakes harbors. [Note: any newly established populations of AIS detected in a harbor as part of this study will be reported immediately to the authorities for appropriate response measures).

Project outcomes included recommended regional approach to characterizing the risk-release relationship for ballast-mediated invaders in the Great Lakes; demonstrated methods for implementing the approach; preliminary experimental findings for one Great Lakes AIS, the spiny water flea (Bythotrephes longimanus); and validated genetic detection methodology for another Great Lakes AIS the bloody red shrimp (Hemimysis anomala).


ACHIEVEMENTS AND IMPACTS

NEMWI collaborates with government agencies, academic research teams, and industry representatives to develop successful policies, programs, and technology that prevent the spread of AIS.

  • NEMWI facilitated broad buy-in from the scientific community on the validity of experimental and survey methods for understanding the risk-release relationship through hosting a series of risk-release Advisory Committee meetings in 2014 and 2015;
  • NEMWI crafted a study design and is validating methods for a longer term Great Lakes-based effort to describe the risk-release relationship patterns across a range of species, different water conditions, and different means of introduction of those species (e.g., ballast water) with funding from the Great Lakes Protection Fund.
  • Developed controlled mesocosm experimental procedures applicable to any port or receiving system, and validated them in the Great Lakes.
  • Targeted opportunity sites for harbor sampling to detect newly established AIS in the busiest port in the Great Lakes port range.
  • Engaged experts in and outside the Great Lakes region (University of Minnesota Duluth, University of Wisconsin Superior, Governors State University, Notre Dame University, University of Maryland, Quest University), government (U.S. Coast Guard, U.S. Navy, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources), and industry in Washington, D.C. March 17-18, 2015, Duluth, Minnesota and Washington, D.C. May, 2014.

The Great Ships Initiative

Established by the Northeast-Midwest Institute in 2006, the Great Ships Initiative (GSI) was a regional effort devoted to ending the problem of ship-mediated invasive species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System and globally. The primary objective of GSI was to accelerate research, development, and implementation of effective ballast water management systems (BWMSs) aboard  ships that visit the region from abroad. GSI provided independent status and certification testing services to developers of BWMSs at the bench-scale, i.e., laboratory scale; at a land-based facility; and on board ships. GSI performed status tests for systems that were in the research and development stage. Until May 2017, GSI was incubated within the Northeast-Midwest Institute’s Towards Science-Based Ballast Standards Program.

GSI was the first purpose-built ballast treatment testing facility globally, and the first freshwater ballast treatment testing facility to receive US Coast Guard approval as an Independent Laboratory. GSI has done the following:

  • Provided vital third-party freshwater performance information to vendors of BWMSs at all stages of development to support efficient exploration of a wide range of possible treatment solutions;
  • Created product development as responsive as possible to the requirements of freshwater environments like the Great Lakes;
  • Conducted over 19 comprehensive land-based tests on various BWMS prototypes, five shipboard tests of installed (temporarily or permanently) BWMSs, and more than 20 bench-scale proof of concept tests developed and validated a sophisticated ship discharge monitoring system; and
  • Installed and demonstrated permanent ship monitoring apparati in eight Great Lakes ships.

Quality BWMS testing is critical to assuring real world BWMS performance.  GSI teamed with other test facilities globally to raise the standard of testing, irrespective of salinity.  In particular, GSI led the movement to greater Quality Control/Quality Assurance (QAQC) in BWMS tests by:

  • Developing, demonstrating and presenting on US Environmental Protection Agency-consistent QAQC practices applicable to BWMS testing.
  • Contributing to federal policy and program development by vetting proposed US Environmental Protection Agency, Environmental Technology Verification Program’s draft shipboard and land-based protocols for the verification of ballast water management technologies.
  • Developing methods and individual plans to conduct large-scale high flow validation tests of ballast water management systems (BWMSs) on board ships and under more controlled conditions at a land-based facility consistent with US Coast Guard Certification requirements. These tests help determine if the BWMS will function properly and effectively in routine ship use.  US Coast Guard (USCG) certification of a BWMS type is a necessary prerequisite to meeting federal requirements for BWMS use.
  • Conducting several large-scale tests for developers of BWMSs to help them understand the capabilities of their prototypes to cleanse ships’ ballast water of fresh water invasive organisms. These “status tests” help the developer prepare their BWMSs for successful certification tests.
  • Completing comprehensive tests under large-scale but controlled conditions showing what various commercially available ballast water filters can do to remove common and naturally diverse forms of freshwater organisms from ballast water.
  • Establishing and implementing the USCG-approved NSF International Independent Laboratory to deliver trusted information on freshwater BWMS performance for US Coast Guard certification decisions.
  • Demonstrating and evaluating for the US Coast Guard a proposed US federal protocol for ship board testing of BWMSs (the Environmental Technology Verification Program Draft Shipboard Protocol) on board a US Laker vessel.

Reports and Deliverables

  • How Clean Is Clean?” (2015).
  • Land-Based Performance Evaluation in Ambient and Augmented Duluth-Superior Harbor Water of Eight Commercially Available Ballast Water Treatment System Filter Units (2014). Cangelosi A, Aliff M, Allinger L, Balcer M, Beesley K, Fanberg L, Hagedorn S, Mangan T, Marksteiner A, Mays N, Polkinghorne C, Prihoda K, Reavie E, Regan D, Ruzycki E, Saillard H, Schaefer H, Schwerdt T, Stoolmiller M & TenEyck M. Great Ships Initiative, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D. C., USA.
  • Final Report of the Shipboard Testing of the Sodium Hydroxide (NaOH) Ballast Water Treatment System Onboard the MV Indiana Harbor (2013). Cangelosi A, Allinger L, Balcer M, Fanberg L, Fobbe D, Hagedorn S, Mangan T, Marksteiner A, Mays N, Polkinghorne C, Prihoda K, Reavie E, Regan D, Reid D, Ruzycki E, Saillard H, Schaefer H, Schwerdt T & TenEyck M. Great Ships Initiative, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
  • A Multi-Dimensional Approach to Invasive Species Prevention (2013). Briski E, Allinger L, Balcer M, Cangelosi A, Fanberg L, Markee T, Mays N, Polkinghorne C, Prihoda K, Reavie E, Regan D, Reid D, Saillard H, Schwerdt T, Schaefer H, TenEyck M, Wiley C & Bailey S. Environmental Science & Technology; 47(3): 1216-1221.
  • Intercomparison of U.S. Ballast Water Test Facilities. Report No. SG-D-06-13 (2012). Drake LA, Weir TP, Grant JF, Parson EWJ & Lemieux EJ. U.S. Coast Guard, Research and Development Center, New London, CT.
  • Final Report of Land-Based Freshwater Testing of a Ballast Water Treatment Involving Sodium Hypochlorite (NaOCl) (2012). Cangelosi A, Allinger L, Balcer M, Fanberg L, Fobbe D, Hagedorn S, Mangan T, Mays N, Polkinghorne C, Prihoda K, Reavie E, Regan D, Reid D, Ruzycki E, Saillard H, Schaefer H, Schwerdt T, Snetting T & TenEyck M. Great Ships Initiative, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
  • A Ballast Discharge Monitoring System for Great Lakes Relevant Ships: A Guidebook for Researchers, Ship Owners, and Agency Officials (2011). Cangelosi A, Schwerdt T, Mangan T, Mays N & Prihoda K. Great Ships Initiative, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
  • Final Report of the Land-Based Freshwater Testing of the Lye (NaOH) Ballast Water Treatment System (2011). Cangelosi A, Allinger L, Balcer M, Fanberg L, Hagedorn S, Markee T, Mays N, Polkinghorne C, Prihoda K, Reavie E, Regan D, Reid D, Ruzycki E, Saillard H, Schwerdt T, Schaefer H & TenEyck M. Great Ships Initiative, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
  • Final Report of the Land-Based Freshwater Testing of the AlfaWall AB PureBallast® Ballast Water Management System (2011). Cangelosi A, Allinger L, Balcer M, Fanberg L, Hagedorn S, Markee T, Mays N, Polkinghorne C, Prihoda K, Reavie E, Regan D, Reid D, Ruzycki E, Saillard H, Schwerdt T, Schaefer H & TenEyck M. Great Ships Initiative, Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.
  • Great Ships for the Great Lakes? Commercial Vessels Free Of Invasive Species in the Great Lakes-St. Lawrence Seaway System. A Scoping Report for the Great Ships Initiative (2006). Cangelosi A & Mays N. Northeast-Midwest Institute, Washington, D.C., USA.

PARTNERS IN OUR WORK

Community GIS
Duluth Seaway Port Authority
Governors State University
Grand Valley State University
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration
Notre Dame University
Quest University
U.S. Coast Guard
U.S. Department of Transportation
U.S. Environmental Protection Agency
U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
U.S. Navy
University of Minnesota Duluth
University of Wisconsin Superior-Lake Superior Research Institute
Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources