Koninklijk Royal Netherlands Nederlands Institute Instituut for Sea voorResearch Zeeonderzoek How to H t stop t the th increase i iin invasive i i organisms: a challenge for research the EU-Ballast Water Opportunity project Marcel Veldhuis On behalf of the Ballast Water team NIOZ is part of the Netherlands Organisation for Scientific Research (NWO) 1 Marine biodiversity and invasive organisms Census of Marine Life Global network to assess and explain diversity of oceanic life EU-Marine Strategy framework Directive (2020) EU's 6th Environment Action Programme (6EAP) Biodiversity and bioinvasions EU-Interreg NS North Sea Ballast Water Opportunity project Harmonization, control and research 1 The Problem Ballast water per se is OK The issue is Invasive Marine Species p = Alien Invasive Species = non-indigenous organisms 1 of 4 major threats to World’s oceans; Other 3 major threats are: land-sourced marine pollution, p , overexploitation of living marine resources, physical alteration/destruction of habitat. Impacts over time: oil pollution vs marine bio-invasions • Oil pollution is visible, has a strong media impact and usually triggers immediate political action. In time, the environment eventually recovers. • Bio-invasions may go unnoticed for some time, increase in severity over the time and in most cases the process is irreversible. 4 2 150 100 50 0 17 00 17 25 17 50 17 75 18 00 18 25 18 50 18 75 19 00 19 25 19 50 19 75 20 00 Timeline of Invasions in Europe Number 200 Decade 1,032 non-indigenous species The region with the highest number of first records of invaders is the Mediterranean Sea Source:Gollaschetal.inprint Region Mediterranean Sea North Sea Atlantic coast Baltic Sea Black Sea Azores Irish waters & NW UK Arctic waters Total Total % number 662 230 177 170 83 25 51 18 1416 46,8 16,2 12,5 12,0 5,9 1,8 3,6 1,3 100,0 Shipping: moves > 80% + of World’s commodities, transfers ~10 10 billion tonnes of ballast / year, carries > 7,000 species of microbes, plants and animals at any one time, and is getting bigger, faster and more frequent! 6 3 Shippingroutes 7 Source: Nellemannetal.2008 4 Impacts Ecological new invasion every 9 weeks Economical losses in 100s of billions euro/year globally Tentative calculation results in documented costs of alien species in Europe (IEEP-Project): 11.4 billion €/year (1.8 control, 9.6 damage) Human health Paralytic shell fish poisoning Cholera outbreaks Organisms world-wide diversity, size and life stages Zooplankton Phytoplankton Bacteria & Viruses 5 European Zebra Mussel - Great Lakes Dreissena polymorpha •Infest >40% US waterways. •Fouls water intake pipes of industry industry. •Costs > US$1 B to date Eriocheir sinensis chinese mitten crab Spreads in UK at rate of 450 km/y First records Ireland 2006 >500 individuals caught (Spain) E. sinensis was found in St. Lawrence estuary, Canada and also in the Chesapeake Bay, USA. Source:Gollaschetal.inprint 6 Comb-jelly - Black Sea 13 13.05.2009 Cholera, E. coli and enterococci 14 7 Dinophysis Toxic dinoflagellates – Australia red tides Alexandrium ASP: amnesic shellfish poisoning DSP: diarrheic shellfish poisoning NSP: neurotoxic shellfish poisoning Forensic genetic evidence for introductions Single basepair polymorphism 5.8S rDNA: C & T alleles C C Seto Inland Sea C T C CC C TT T T T C 1960+ 20 GloBallast 16 19721973 Hallegraeff 8 Why urgent action was needed? Ecological disasters Long-Standing human health concern - WHO Some countries brought their concerns to the UN/IMO Scientific proof of BW as a main vector for invasions – growing international concern Shipping trans-boundary character and international nature Need N d for f a consistent i t t and d standardized t d di d approach h Shipping industry became the driving force 18 9 Global response to BW issue International Maritime Organization •IMO-MEPC •IMO MEPC 1991 •UNCED 1992 •IMO-Res. A.774(18) in 1993 •IMO-Res. A.868(20) in 1997 Safer Shipping ….. Cleaner Oceans… •GloBallast Programme •WSSD 2002 •IMO-BWM Convention 2004 19 Ballast Water Exchange BWE should only be undertaken when conditions are met and safety of the ship is guaranteed 20 10 Ballast Water Management (Treatment) Regulation D-2: Ballast Water Performance Standard Ballast water at discharge should contain: • Less than 10 viable org./m3. 50ǋm; and • Less than 10 viable org/ml 50ǋm and 10ǋm; and • Indicator microbes following concentrations: - Vibrio cholerae < 1 cfu/100ml - Escherichia coli < 250 cfu/100ml - Intestinal Enterococci <100 cfu/100ml Almost drinking water !!!!! ballast water treatment waste water treatment drinking water or filtration, hydrocyclones, !! Market 8 billion euro !! heat treatment, 40% of industry in NS region UV treatment, ozone treatment, chemical treatment (chlorine,formaline,PERACLEAN Ocean), electro-ionization,, !!!!!! gas-supersaturation, combinations of above, ‘silver bullets’ 22 11 Why is NIOZ so unique for land-based testing Fundamental need of biology, chemistry and ecotoxicology Suitable test site with good facilities Tidal system with coastal water varying in salinity (24 – 30 PSU) and turbidity (10 - > 100 mg/l), / ) challenging test water testing since 2004; 2007 & 2008 Final/Type Approval tests 5 test series for Certification by NA, 16 companies pilot studies 23 North Sea Ballast Water Opportunity project (EU-Interreg IVB prog; 2009 - 2014) www.NorthSeaBallast.eu www NorthSeaBallast eu 7 NS countries; > 40 (sub)partners (IMO, HELCOM, ICES, IUCN, OSPAR etc.) Belgium, the Netherlands, UK, Germany, Denmark, Sweden, Norway. Where policy meets science and industry www.northseaballast.eu 12 Mission academic research institute in BWT testing holistic approach multiple tools to asses (low) numbers and viability Microscopic counts (time consuming) FlowCam; semi-automated (larger organisms) viability of remaining organisms but also vitality of discharged water 25 Flow cytometry; automated (smaller organisms, phytoplankton, bacteria, viruses) Large number [ 40,000/ml] Z0054306.LMD of phytoplankton cells 5 µm in 4 diameter 10 10 Cysts and resting stages Chlor/cell FL4 LOG 10 10 10 10 µm 50 3 2 1 0 10 0 10 1 10 2 SS size LOG Cell 10 3 A lot more phytoplankton cells than the size range of interests !!!! Sample before treatment 10 4 26 13 Active Substances – Environmental Acceptability-Ecotoxicology Scale of BW Discharge - 3 * 109 tonnes/year - = 1012 litres (Conservative Estimate) Discharges in - ecologically productive - densely densely-populated populated coastal zones and port areas THE MILIEU of the BALLAST TANKS Stow-away POCKETS often ANOXiC 14 29 30 15 Attheendwewillstillbeconfused butatamuchhigherlevel There will be no wisdom without ballast 31 Invitation toattendtheofficialopeningofthenewBWTtestsite OnbehalfoftheEUͲInterreg IVBprojectNorthSeaBallastWaterOpportunitytheNIOZteamisinvitingyoutoattend theofficialopeningofournewtestsiteintheNIOZforpilotandfullscaleteststudies. h ffi i l i f i i h NIOZ f il d f ll l di Astheprojectisnowwellonitswaythisachievement,aftermanymonthsofhardwork,isanothermilestoneinthe projectandwillallowustotestvirtuallyanytypeofBWTsystemunderrealisticconditions. When:May20th 2009 Where:harbourofRoyalͲNIOZ(Texel,theNetherlands) 13.00PM Program IntroducinglectureoftheEUͲprogramDr.MarcelVeldhuistitle;‘Howtostoptheincreaseininvasive organisms;achallengeforall’(NIOZmainlecturehall) 14:30– 16:00PMpossibilityofsitevisit(NIOZharbour) 16:00PMBBQ 16 17