We measured the presence, viability and potential toxicity of cyanobacteria in ships’ ballast tanks during three domestic voyages through the North American Great Lakes. Using molecular methods, the toxin-producing forms of Microcystis and Anabaena were monitored in ballast water after ships’ ballast tanks were filled at their first port of call, and at subsequent ports as ships transited the G...

Biological invasions have the potential to cause extensive ecological and economic damage. Maritime trade facilitates biological invasions by transferring species in ballast water, and on ships' hulls. With volumes of maritime trade increasing globally, efforts to prevent these biological invasions are of significant importance. Both the International Maritime Organization and the Australian go...

Ballast water is a dominant mechanism for the interoceanic and transoceanic dispersal of aquatic non-native species (ANS), but few studies have addressed ANS transfers via smaller scale vessel movements. We analyzed ballast water reporting records and ANS occurrence data from four US West Coast port systems to examine patterns of intra-coastal ballast water transfer, and assess how ballast tran...

Ships transport about 80 percent of world trade and transfer approximately three to five billion tons of ballast water internationally every year. Due to the likely presence of pollutants, the ballast water discharged by ships can have negative effects on aquatic ecosystems. This study was conducted on 10 ships that entered the Bushehr port to determine the effectiveness of the ballast water ex...

Most harmful diatoms belong to the marine, planktonic genus Pseudo-nitzschia and are responsible for amnesic shellfish poisoning through the production of domoic acid. Fifteen Pseudo-nitzschia species, nine of them toxigenic (approximately 60% of the species found in our samples) were recovered from 185 ship ballast tanks (water and sediment) destined for Canadian ports. Our results demonstrate...

As implementation of the Ballast Water Convention draws nearer a major challenge is the development of protocols which accurately assess compliance with the D-2 Standard. Many factors affect the accuracy of assessment: e.g. large volume of ballast water, the shape, size and number of ballast tanks and the heterogeneous distribution of organisms within tanks. These factors hinder efforts to obta...

—Introductions of non-indigenous species in ballast water are one of the greatest threats to freshwater and marine ecosystems worldwide. New approaches to reducing the release of organisms from ballast water are under consideration nationally and internationally. Unfortunately, the development of scientifically defensible policy for controlling introductions from ballast water has been retarded...

Cases of bioinvasion in Brazil and abroad have been causing serious environmental economic problems great order. such as the golden mussel, zebra North Pacific star, among others, caused fishing activity, industry, cases clogging coolers maintenance hydroelectric turbines. The cholera epidemic took place a long time ago, this was also due to transport ballast between continents. Onshore water t...

We characterized the physical/chemical conditions and the algal and bacterial assemblages in ballast water from 62 ballast tanks aboard 28 ships operated by the U.S. Military Sealift Command and the Maritime Administration, sampled at 9 ports on the U.S. West Coast and 4 ports on the U.S. East Coast. The ballast tank waters had been held for 2–176 days, and 90% of the tanks had undergone ballas...