Viability test and bulk harvest of natural zooplankton communities to verify the efficacy of a ship's ballast water treatment system based on USCG phase-II

We investigated >50-μm marine planktonic organisms (mainly zooplankton) using a bongo net in Masan Bay and Jangmok Bay in order to harvest 75% of natural communities based on Phase-II approval regulations by the United States Coast Guard (USCG). The concentrated volume (in 1 ton) and abundance of zooplankton were 1.8×10 7 ind. ton -1 and 2.3×10 7 ind. ton -1 , and their survival rates were 82.6% and 80.1%, respectively. The community structure in Jangmok Bay was similar to that in Masan Bay, and dominant species were adult and immature groups (stage IV) of genus Acartia. Harvested populations were inoculated in a 500-ton test tank. Although the population abundances were 6.0×10 4 ind. ton -1 for both bay samples, the mortality rates were higher in the Masan Bay population (32%) than the Jangmok Bay population (20%). We considered the reason to be that there were 30% more immature individuals of Acartia from Masan Bay than from Jangmok Bay. The younger population may have been greatly stressed by the moving process and netting gear. After applying a Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS) using a sample form Jangmok Bay, the mortality rates in the treatment groups were found to be 100% after 0 days and 5 days, implying that the BWTS worked well. During the winter season, the zooplankton concentration method alone did not easily satisfy the approval standards of USCG Phase II (> 10 × 10 4 ind. ton -1 in the 500 ton tank). Increasing the netting frequency and additional fishing boats may be helpful in meeting the USCG Phase II biological criteria.