Ballast Water Sampling and Sample Analysis for Compliance Control - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 188

Table 5 Possible sampling access points, equipment and other details recommended for detailed
in-line compliance control sampling with the D-2 standard (David 2013 )
Organism
group

Sampling
point

Water volume
[litre] Equipment Number of samples

>50 ʼ m In-line Plankton net 300-500 in

each sequence

2 (or more) sequential samples
of ca. 10 min duration each,
avoiding the very beginning and
very end of the tank discharge
event

<50 and
>10

In-line Bucket 5-6 in each

sequence

2 (or more) continuous drip
sequential samples collected at
the same time as for organism
group >50

ʼ m

ʼ m

Indicator
microbes

In-line Bucket,

sampling bottle

1 in each
sequence

2 (or more) continuous drip
sequential samples sub-sampled
from the bucket

Recommendations for a Ballast Water Sampling Protocol
that Is Representative of the Whole Discharge

As stated above, the results from our previous ballast water sampling studies showed
that different sampling approaches infl uence the results regarding organism concen-
trations (Gollasch and David 2009 , 2010a , b , 2013 ). The organisms are potentially
affected by the approach chosen, so that the selection of an inappropriate sampling
approach may have an infl uence on the compliance control sampling result.
Consequently, the organism concentrations in the ballast water discharge may be
underestimated so that ballast water managed with an underperforming BWMS
could falsely become recognised as compliant. In contrast organism concentrations
may also be overestimated and a BWMS who's application results in ballast water
to comply with the D-2 standard may fail a compliance test.
We observed that a certain level of pragmatism is required during on board bal-
last water compliance control sampling because the work is not undertaken under
controlled laboratory conditions. In any case, all attempts should be made to avoid
negative impacts of organism survival during the sampling process. This is espe-
cially relevant for organisms greater than or equal to 50 m in minimum dimension.

PSC are unlikely to have available larger water collecting tanks, e.g., >500 l, during
the sampling event and will therefore likely need to work with nets to concentrate
the ballast water sample during the sampling procedure. Guidelines G2 also address
these aspects: “sampling should be undertaken in a safe and practical manner; and
samples should be concentrated to a manageable size”.
We observed that the main factors to infl uence viable organism concentrations
results include sampling duration, i.e., length of the sampling process, the timing,
i.e., the point in time during the ballast water discharge when the sampling is con-
ducted, the number of samples and the water quantity sampled (Gollasch and David
2009 , 2010a , b , 2013 ).

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