CILER researchers to study water ballasting practices ANN ARBOR—The Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems Research (CILER) has received a $1.12 million grant from the Great Lakes Protection Fund that will help researchers study the risks of transoceanic vessels and their water ballasting practices which have been identified as a way that nonindigenous invasive species have been introduced into freshwater lakes.

CILER, with administrative offices at the University of Michigan, is a joint institute formed in conjunction with the U-M, Michigan State University, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and the Great Lakes Environmental Research Laboratory (GLERL). The three-year project began July 1.

Water ballasting is a way for ships to keep balanced and level in the water. Many ships are equipped with tanks in which water is put in or pumped out depending on the weight of the cargo. If the ship is hauling a lighter load, the tanks will carry more water, a heavy load uses less water. The combination of cargo weight and ballast water weight keeps the ship even in the water.

Consequently, ships have to de-ballast as cargo is loaded, and ballast as cargo is off-loaded. Vessels that are traveling full loaded with cargo typically do not take on ballast water and are referred to as NOBOBs or “no-ballast-on-board.”

An unintentional result is the transport and introduction of nonindigenous aquatic species into new ecosystems. Nonindigenous species are those that enter an ecosystem beyond their historic and native range and are capable of establishing a reproducing population. These nonindigenous species are often harmful to the new environment, disrupting and destroying the delicate balance of the existing community structure and food webs.

In the Great Lakes alone, researchers estimate there have been more than 160 nonindigenous species introduced in the past 100 years. Eight of the last 11 introductions most likely occurred through ballast water discharges.

In 1990, the Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Species Prevention and Control Act was enacted to help protect the Great Lakes against further invasions. Despite tighter regulations, nonindigenous species are still being introduced into the Great Lakes. Preliminary studies show that the current requirement for ballasted ships to exchange their ballast water while in the deep-ocean is insufficient to completely prevent further introductions. Current regulations do not address the fact that more than 80 percent of the vessels that enter the Great Lakes declare they have no-ballast-on-board, or are NOBOBs.

Although these ships have no declarable ballast, they are not completely empty. The residual sediment and water in their tanks can potentially be discharged into the lakes if the ship ballasts in one port and then subsequently has to de-ballast at another port. It is common for ships to visit multiple ports during their voyage within the lakes.

The new CILER grant allows scientists to study water-ballasting issues by furthering an initial research project that was funded by NOAA, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Coast Guard. Researchers will focus most of their studies on NOBOB vessels.

CILER’s director, Tom Johengen, heads the new research project along with David Reid of NOAA. Johengen says the scientists will do in-depth studies in several areas.

Researchers will first assess the effectiveness of ballast water exchange. Despite laws pertaining to ballast water, Johengen says there has been no real scientific study on the effectiveness of ballast water exchange for foreign vessels trading within the Great Lakes. He says it will be hard for industry to come up with alternative methods with no standards to measure against.

Secondly, scientists will address NOBOB vessels. They will study the unpumpable sediment and water residual that is left over in the ballast tanks from previous ballasting operations and examine this material for live organisms and those that might be in “resting” stages or egg and spore forms. Researchers want to see if these “resting” organisms will hatch and can live outside of their native environments, specifically when exposed to Great Lakes water. According to Johengen, this will be the first study ever to examine these resting stages as a potential means of invasion.

And lastly, researchers will work with the shipping companies and vessel crews to get a history of the ship’s ballasting and management operations. They will look at where the ship has been and how the ballast has been managed in order to assess the extent to which good management practices can reduce the accumulation of organisms within the tanks and the subsequent risk of further introductions.

“For CILER to be successful in this project, researchers will need the full cooperation of the shipping industry,” Johengen says. It is completely voluntary for shipping companies to participate in the project, and so far Johengen says they have been very supportive.

Findings from the research project will help determine whether future policies or regulations need to include NOBOB vessels and will help create a meaningful standard on the effectiveness of the ballast water exchange against which newly developed alternative treatment approaches can be compared.

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Cooperative Institute for Limnology and Ecosystems ResearchMichigan State UniversityNonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Species Prevention and Control ActEnvironmental Protection AgencyTom Johengen