Open AccessEfforts afoot to stem the flow of invasive species from ballast water
Author(s) -
Showstack Randy
Publication year - 2001
Publication title -
eos, transactions american geophysical union
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.316
H-Index - 86
eISSN - 2324-9250
pISSN - 0096-3941
DOI - 10.1029/01eo00188
Subject(s) - ballast , harm , certification , business , invasive species , environmental planning , natural resource economics , environmental science , political science , economics , ecology , law , biology
With the U.S. National Invasive Species Act of 1996, or NISA, due for reauthorization next year by Congress, interest groups already are staking out their positions about how to protect the nation's waters from aquatic nuisance species that arrive in ballast water, and that can cause significant ecological and economic harm. At a Capitol Hill briefing on July 9, representatives of the U.S. shipping industry called for mandatory ballast management and a ballast water management standard. They also called for certification of ballast water management technologies and practices, which they noted still require much research; and for federal preemption of state regulations that they said present shippers with a confusing patchwork of rules.