Effectiveness of ballast water management systems in the Great Lakes based on a paired uptake-discharge sample design.

ABSTRACT: Ships' ballast water is a major vector for aquatic non-native species, particularly in the Great Lakes and St. Lawrence River (GLSLR) region. Effective September 8, 2024, international ships must comply with an international convention limiting live organisms in discharged ballast water, typically by installing onboard ballast water management systems (BWMS). This study assessed BWMS effectiveness in the GLSLR using a paired uptake-discharge sample design (before and after treatment), to evaluate live organism abundance in the two regulated size classes, and plankton diversity, using microscopy and high-throughput sequencing. Samples from 10 ships (11 paired events) collected in 2019 and 2022 revealed uptake abundances of living organisms up to 107,600 organisms/m³ for the large

SUBMITTER: Casas-Monroy O 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC12048448 | biostudies-literature | 2025 May

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature