Policy and Legal Framework and the Current Status of Ballast Water Management Requirements - Global Maritime Transport and Ballast Water Management: Issues and Solutions - page 77

The fi rst Ballast Water Management Strategy for the North Sea has been
developed for the Issue Group on Sustainable Shipping (IGSS) of the Committee of
North Sea Senior Offi cials' (CONSSO) in 2005. The scoping study has been led by
the Maritime and Coastguard Agency (MCA) in the United Kingdom, involving
also Belgium, Germany, The Netherlands, Norway and Sweden.
This region is geographically fully covered by the Helsinki Commission
(HELCOM) and OSPAR. The Contracting Parties of HELCOM and OSPAR
developed a voluntary interim application of the Regulation D-1 Ballast Water
Exchange Standard of the BWM Convention applicable for shipping in the
North- East Atlantic, North and Baltic Seas. General guidance on the voluntary
and interim application of the D-1 standard was agreed by HELCOM at the 29th
Meeting of the Baltic Marine Environment Protection Commission in March 2008
(HELCOM 2008 ; IMO 2008 , 2009 ). Since April 1st 2008 HELCOM and OSPAR
jointly agreed, also on a voluntary basis and provided safety permits, on require-
ments for BWM of vessels which enter the following regions of the Atlantic and
Arctic Oceans and adjacent seas, including the Baltic Sea, north of 36° north latitude
as well as between 42° west longitude and 51° east longitude, and the Atlantic
Ocean north of 59° north latitude and between 44° and 42° west longitude. In
short, the requirements include:
• Vessels entering the area have to carry a BWM Plan developed in compliance
with the relevant IMO Guideline.
• Recording of all ballast water operations on all vessels entering the area.
• Ballast water of all tanks should be exchanged according to the requirements
outlined in the D-1 Standard of the BWM Convention, i.e., at least 200 NM from
nearest land and in waters of more than 200 m depth. These requirements apply
to vessels on trans-Atlantic voyages, and for those entering the region on ship-
ping routes passing the West African coast before entering the North-East
Atlantic. In case of non-compliance, vessels are expected to conduct BWE in
accordance with the same distance and depth limits within the north-east Atlantic.
In those cases where this is also impossible, BWE should be carried out as far as
possible from nearest land, but always at least 50 NM away and in depths of at
least 200 m.
It should be noted that these guidelines are not meant to replace the requirements
as outlined in the BWM Convention, but they represent the fi rst initiative of an
interim BWM strategy for this region. All ships already enabled to meet the D-2
standard of the BWM Convention should meet this standard so that these BWE
guidelines no longer apply. From entry into force of the BWM Convention these
guidelines become mandatory and will consecutively be replaced by the phase-in of
the D-2 standard (Gollasch et al. 2007 ; David and Gollasch 2008 ). These guidelines
are supported by the European Commission and are not relevant for vessels entering
the region from the Mediterranean Sea (HELCOM 2008 ) because further guidance
was developed for the Mediterranean Sea (see below).