Presently, only mid-ocean ballast water exchange or retaining all ballast onboard the ship are the only approved strategies for ballast water management. Any alternative treatment technology is still experimental and not approved for broad use on ships by the United States Coast Guard. Some management techniques include:
- Filtration/separation of ballast water
- Sterilization of ballast water by ozone, UV light, electric currents, or heat treatments
- Chemical treatments (biocides)
- Asphyxiation (removing oxygen from ballast water)
- A combination of the methods above.
The Marine Invasions Research Laboratory has been a third party, independent tester of the alternative management treatments sterilization of ballast by ozone and asphyxiation. In recent years SERC has provided technical consultation on experimental and sampling designs used to test the efficacy of alternative ballast water treatment systems. In this capacity, SERC functions purely as an independent scientific collaborator and in no way endorses any particular ballast water technology.
For additional information on development of ballast water treatment tools, click on these links:
NISBASE reference search on ballast water treatment
AIRD project search on ballast water treatment and management
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