Ecological risk assessment for ballast water introductions: A suggested approach

An ecological risk assessment methodology is suggested as a means to investigate the efficacy of ballast water management strategies, addressing any one of a number of potential endpoints linked to the transport, release and control of non-indigenous marine organisms associated with ballast water. The methodology is based upon the Quantitative Risk Assessment paradigm more commonly employed in nuclear and chemical process industry. The paper advocates a case-specific approach to ballast water risk assessment and provides a general discusion of some of the difficulties that may be faced in such an assessment, illustrated by reference to a hypothetical biocide treatment strategy.