Low salinity residual ballast discharge and exotic species introductions to the North American Great Lakes

Exotic species introductions to the North American Great Lakes have continued even though ballast water management strategies were implemented in the early 1990s. Overseas vessels that arrive with little or no exchangeable ballast on board have been suspected to be an important source for dischargin...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Marine pollution bulletin 2003-10, Vol.46 (10), p.1334-1340
Main Authors: Niimi, Arthur J, Reid, Donald M
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Animal, plant and microbial ecology
Applied ecology
Ballast water
Biodiversity
Biological and medical sciences
Conservation, protection and management of environment and wildlife
Environmental degradation: ecosystems survey and restoration
Environmental monitoring
Environmental Monitoring - methods
Exotic species
Fresh Water - analysis
Freshwater
Fundamental and applied biological sciences. Psychology
Geography
Great Lakes
Great Lakes Region
introduced species
North America, Great Lakes
Salinity
Ships
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Summary:Exotic species introductions to the North American Great Lakes have continued even though ballast water management strategies were implemented in the early 1990s. Overseas vessels that arrive with little or no exchangeable ballast on board have been suspected to be an important source for discharging low salinity ballast containing low salinity tolerant organisms in this region. Residual ballast averaged 18.1 ± 13.4‰ salinity among 62 samples taken primarily from bottom tanks on 26 vessels that entered the Great Lakes in 1999 and 2000. Sampling of 2–4 tanks each on nine vessels indicated all carried at least one tank of residual ballast of ⩽5‰ salinity. Many of these transits originated from the northeast Atlantic, Mediterranean and Black Sea regions which have been the probable source for many of the more recent introductions to this region.
ISSN:0025-326X
1879-3363
DOI:10.1016/S0025-326X(03)00247-9