Regulating Ballast Water: Compliance with International Standards

The Victorian Government's Domestic Ballast Water Management policy aims to reduce the risk of invasive species being transported into Victorian waters through ballast water discharge from ships. The policy uses a risk assessment tool to classify ballast water as high-risk or low-risk. If deemed high-risk, the ship must treat the water using an accepted treatment method before discharging it in Victorian waters. If deemed low-risk, the ship can expel the ballast water after reporting and receiving written approval from the Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). The policy has had a positive impact on the economy by promoting recreational fishing, tourism, and the shipping industry. However, there is a need for increased funding to research safer treatment methods and regular inspections of ships' ballast water treatment mechanisms.

Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
POLICY OF WASTE BALLAST WATER IN VICTORIA
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Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
POLICY OF WASTE BALLAST WATER IN VICTORIA
INTRODUCTION
Most of the parts of Victoria, there are a number of water channels, which include bay, rivers,
inlets, lakes and the coast. Victoria has roughly 2500 km of coastline, and there are more than
120 bays, inlets and estuaries along its dimensions. Victoria's three largest bays are Western
Port, Corner Inlet and Port Phillip. The state also has more than 85,000 km of rivers and 13,000
natural wetlands. Victoria's channels support a broad range of industries and activities such as
commercial operations like commercial fishing, aquaculture, boat repair, marine, commercial
shipping, and related industries, cruise ships, tourism and transport (ferries) operators (Goss
1990, pp. 221-223). And also recreational prospects are provided including boating, fishing,
swimming, diving and water sports. Other services provided from Victoria water channels are
the emergency and regulatory services, agriculture production through irrigation, domestic
water usage by urban and rural, as cultural pride and heritage sites, as home to many flora and
fauna, including scarce and endangered species, wetlands of national and international
environmental importance.
Ballast water is used to ensure that the structural integrity of vessels and their stability was
maintained. It's typically pumped out when the cargo is loaded onto the ship and pumped in
when the ship is offloaded. Ballast water is essential to ship for efficient transportation but also
endangers aquatic species through relocating them to the environment that they have not
adopted thus threatening their life; this poses a serious ecological, economic and health threat
to the local communities. This water may also contain harmful substances and disease causing
organism. Victorians decided to impose a policy that would deal with ballast water on ships and
vessels. In 1991, a ship released 100000m2 water ballast at the coast of Peru in which
contained viruses and bacteria which was responsible for the outbreak of cholera in Peru; this
killed over 10000 people in the area (Karjalainen 2017). This research shows how severe the
effects of water of ballast can be to human life.
BALLAST WATER POLICY OF VICTORIA
The marine pests introduced in the waterways through the expulsion of ballast water which
threatened the biodiversity and the economic benefits derived from the marine environment, it
was necessary to introduce a policy that facilitated ballast water management. The main aim of
the plan was to protect the beneficial uses of the state waters through the minimizing of risks
of introducing marine pests in the waters, fulfil commonwealth requirements concerning
international ballast water through the establishment of risk based management in Victoria for
the domestic ballast water. Also, the aim of the policy was to protect and maintain economic

Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
significance for fishing, port activities as well as tourism. It was also meant to reduce the costs
and difficulty associated with the eradication of marine pests.
The waterways derive economic value through the industries that are supported from their use
for instance the boating and fishing industry, associated manufacturing, retail tourism, tour
boats, commercial shipping, fisheries, aquaculture and ferrying. The recreational boating
contributes nearly $ 5 Billion to the economy each year and it accounts for the available full
time jobs as well as the fisheries income which contributes nearly $7 Billion per year and
accounts for 33000 full time jobs. The waterways also act as natural attractions which draw
tourists and visitors. For example, Lake Eildon has been able to employ a large number of
people in the north east as well as providing support for local communities and industries. The
Victoria local ports provide a hub for economic activity as well as the other four commercial
trading ports which act as key drivers of the state economy as major trade gateways to the
world.
Ballast water management is largely focused on the preservation of the marine environment as
it affects the economic nature of the state of Victoria. There are three main issues that need to
be considered for the domestic ballast water arrangements which include mandatory exchange
where the ships are required to exchange their ballast water regardless of the risk they are
prone to or the length of the cruise which is the standard for all the international ships which
would like to enter the Australian ports. The exchange which has high risk exposure may limit
the number of ships that are required to participate in the exchange of ballast water. In the
case of the domestic management arrangements for Victorian ports, there are no additional
prerequisites. However, in the future it is expected that the ships will be able to perform the
treatment on board since the method increases the cost of transportation in order to
compensate for the additional expenses for the treatment of ballast water.
Additional charges which will be taxed on the ships during the exchange of high risk ballast
water on the trips will be a function the distance that the ship is required to deviate and such
costs will include, fuel as well as delay costs. The direct costs involved are quite reasonable for
the distant offshore ballast water exchange however, they will not be equally distributed across
states. Supplementary charges include ballast water, logbook reviews, maintenance of the risk
management tool as well as the ballast water management database. The ports can also be
examined according to the volume of the pests present. Government expenses amount to $1
Million per year due to maintenance and management costs. On the other hand, increase in the
cost of domestic shipping may have flow on effects on the rest of the Australian economy which
may be tracked by considering the equilibrium effects of the ecomony.
.

Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
Other costs will also be experienced through the continuous training and motivation of port and
harbour users, the production of waste administration plans and providing of adequate
reception facilities, the groundwork and implementation of oil and chemical emergency plans
so as to conform with the observation by ships of EPA guidelines and policies to avoid
presenting non-native species and contaminants in ships' ballast waters. However, the
implementation of the policy does not only mean an increase in the cost of managing ballast
water as the government of Victoria can also gain from fines allotted on non-compliant ships
annual agreement fees between the ship owners and an overall benefit of maintaining the
economic stability of the Victoria local ports.
IMPLEMENTATION OF THE POLICY
In order to control the waste ballast water from being discharged, there are some steps which
should be implemented in order to formulate the waste management policy. The
recommended method is the ballast water exchange in which exchange is done at sea using
some methods that are dependent on the structural design and stability of the ship. Some of
the methods include the use of sequential exchange, flow thorough or the dilution method in
order to achieve the appropriate ballast water exchange requirements.
The exchange method is important in ensuring that the volumetric exchange is achieved by
90%. The exchange process should be taken at least 12 miles of the Victorian State Coast. It is
important that the ballast water exchange is conducted using safe methods and procedures.
For example, the use of the empty or refill method which requires that the tanks of high risk
ballast water are emptied outside the Victorian Coast before refilling them with water from the
sea. All the high risk domestic ballast water needs to be discharged until the suction is lost with
the use of stripping pumps. Alternatively, the flow through method can be used where the
ballast water tank are filled and the full tank capacity is pumped through the reservoir.
EPA will confirm that the ballast water exchanges have been executed using a 95% volumetric
exchange. This procedure comprises an inspection of records relating to ballast water exchange
operations which are maintained in the ship which lead to a financial cost to the state. The
pump rate is important to determine an acceptable volumetric exchange. The ship masters
should make sure that the precision of pump rates used in calculations. Non-complaint ships
post a threat to the marine waters and the economic life of the local ports. There is also a
dilution method in which the exchange involves 300 per cent of a tank's full capacity. This
amount must be propelled through the tank to achieve the acceptable 90% volumetric
exchange (David et al. 2013, pp.205-217). (The flow chart below shows steps on how the
government has been trying to manage ballast water)

Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
Flow chart on domestic ballast water management in victoria (EPA Victoria 2015, figure 1)
The ship approaches the Victorian state
intending to be anchored
The ship fills Victorians ballast form
Does the ship have any Australian sourced
domestic water on board?
If the ballast is permanent fresh water then no
more actions will be taken to the ship
If no, the ship sends a report to
EPA. No further management can
be done by EPA. The ship must
meet the AQIS international ballast
water requirements
Start completion of ballast water log and regulate if
the ballast water is high-risk or low-risk using the
risk assessment tool. If the risk assessment tool is
not used, ballast water will be taken as high-risk.
If the ballast water is of low-risk, direct the
Ballast Water Log and Report Form to EPA.
Ship may expel domestic ballast water
provided EPA has given written approval
The ships goes in port victoria and will be subjected to inspections to ensure compliance of the ballast water policy
If the ballast water is of high-risk, the
ship is asked if it intends to discharge
it
If no, Ballast Water Log and Report
Forms are sent to EPA. The ship should
not expel any high-risk domestic
ballast water.
If yes, the ship must treat the high-risk
ballast water using accepted treatment
method. Ballast water log and report
form are transferred to EPA. Ship may
expel treated ballast water in Victorian
waters provided

Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
IMPACT OF THE POLICY ON THE ECONOMY
The government set-up the policy to curb spread diseases to human population are the ports,
ensure the thriving of marine life thus supporting the fisheries industries. Maintain the tourism
sector around the coastal regions of Victoria, allow development of the area through the
establishment of port related industries and growth of harbour towns, to reduce pollution due
to the waste ballast water. And also maintain the economic significance of the Victoria coastal
region.
The policy has had a positive impact on the economic state of Victoria. Recreational fishing is a
major economic factor which has promoted and tourism in Victoria, the policy has tried
rectifying the problem and adverse effects which would cripple the tourism market in the world
and severely affect the Victorian economy. Implementation of the policy has made a positive
effect on the ship manufacturing industry in which revenue has been through the manufacture
of ships complying with the policy and installation of water management systems. It has also
improved the shipping industry in areas such as Williamstown Dockyard Victoria which are used
in maintaining the ships and modifying them to comply with the policy.
RECOMMENDATIONS
There should be an increment in funding by the government to finance research to come up
with safer and methods ballast water treatment methods that do not pose a threat to marine
and human life, both crew and population around them. The policy should enforce regular
inspections, and repairs of the ships ballast water treatment mechanisms. Ships should use
permanent fresh water ballast to reduce incurred costs of treatment (Bailey 2015, pp. 261-268).
In conclusion, ballast water has the adverse effect on ecological, economy and human health to
the local people around Victoria coast. To tackle the problem, the policy has assisted in
rectifying the effects especially economic challenges and has added benefits to the Victoria
state government. Hope the government will take into considerations coming up with more
cheap and economical methods that will improve the policy.

Policy of waste ballast water in Victoria
References
Goss, R.O., 1990. Economic policies and seaports: The diversity of port policies. Maritime Policy
& Management, 17(3), pp.221-23
Karjalainen, T., 2017. Ballast Water Monitoring.
Wescott, G., 1998. Reforming coastal management to improve community participation and
integration in Victoria, Australia. Coastal Management, 26(1), pp.3-15.
Bandara, Y.M. and Nguyen, H.O., 2015. Port infrastructure pricing policy and practice: a case
study of Australia and New Zealand seaports. Australian Journal of Maritime & Ocean Affairs,
7(2), pp.110-131.
David, M., Gollasch, S. and Leppäkoski, E., 2013. Risk assessment for exemptions from ballast
water management–the Baltic Sea case study. Marine pollution bulletin, 75(1), pp.205-217.
EPA Victoria 2015, Domestic Ballast Water Management in Victorian state waters march 2017,
http://www.epa.vic.gov.au/~/media/Publications/949%207.pdf
Bailey, S.A., 2015. An overview of thirty years of research on ballast water as a vector for
aquatic invasive species to freshwater and marine environments. Aquatic ecosystem health &
management, 18(3), pp.261-268.