Comb Jellyfish News

Danish Shipping launches a new guide regarding the implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention, which will enter into force on 8 September 2017. In a few days, the Ballast Water Management Convention will enter into force. In future all new built ships must be equipped with a ballast water treatment system. For existing ships, systems must be installed as from 8 September 2019 to 8 September 2024. The Convention shall ensure that no invasive species such as zebra mussels and the North American comb jellyfish are transported in the ballast water of the ships from waters in one region to another. But the new rules are complex, and there are a number of conditions that officers have to cope with in order to avoid problems in relation with for example port state inspections.

The UK P&I Club has chosen to focus its latest Legal Briefing publication on the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments, adopted by the IMO in 2004. Implementation of the Convention is now probably just two years away and ship owners and managers are coming under increasing pressure as they struggle to be ready in time. Over the past 20 to 30 years, the consequences of Invasive Alien Species (IAS) travelling around the globe in ships’ ballast water have become increasingly apparent.