Caribbean Committed to Ballast Water Management
A meeting of countries in the Wider Caribbean Region is renewing regional coordination to help implement International Maritime Organization (IMO)'s Ballast Water Management Convention and thereby minimize the transfer of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens in ships' ballast water.
Topics discussed at the workshop, being held in Panama City (5-9 June), include ways for moving ratification and implementation forward throughout the region; exchanging information; a revised regional strategic action plan; reestablishment of a regional task force; and lessons learned from the GloBallast project – set up to help implement the Convention.
Seven thousand species are transferred in ballast water every hour of every day – See infographic to find out about more via the ballast water in numbers.
The regional meeting is organized by RAC/REMPEITC, through IMO’s Integrated Technical Cooperation Programme, with funding from the Malaysian Government.