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Ballast Monitoring Practicums-2019

  May 30-31, 2019 in Duluth-Superior    June 3-4, 2019 in Erie

Travel subsidies to attend these practicums are available via the registration form.
Attendance at each practicum will be limited to 25 attendees, to facilitate
the hands-on direct experience outcome of this project.

Ballast Monitoring in the Great Lakes:
Project Objectives and Activities
Jeffrey L. Ram, Wayne State University and Allegra Cangelosi, Penn State-Behrend
Sponsored by the Great Lakes Protection Fund

The objective of this project is to disseminate practical information and training on ballast water monitoring and assessment alternatives to policy, regulatory, and testing personnel in the Great Lakes region. The project will focus on challenges and opportunities associated with ballast water monitoring in the context of the federal ballast water legislation recently signed into law (VIDA--Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018). To this end, the Project will:

    <>Host two-day practicums at Duluth-Superior Harbor and at Port Erie for
         interested regional stakeholders and state officials regarding the approaches
         and best technologies currently available for assessing organisms and their
         viability in ballast water, in the context of current legislation and regulations;
         and
    <>Produce a Guidebook summarizing monitoring methods explored at the
        practicums and summarize participant reviews of the applicability of available
        monitoring methods to Great Lakes ballast water monitoring needs.

The practicum activities will facilitate:
(1) Discussion of policy and technical ballast water monitoring objectives relevant to the Great Lakes region, especially in the context of the recently signed Vessel Incidental Discharge Act of 2018;
(2) Information exchange about ballast monitoring technologies, and their relevance to Great Lakes regional ballast water and monitoring objectives;
(3) Demonstration of ballast water sample collection methods (using actual ships, if possible);
(4) Hands-on experience with an array of fundamental detection tools and processes available for use, and demonstration of conventional (microscopic) analysis methods by Project professionals;
(5) Discussion of outputs of each type of technology, including comparability to regulatory discharge requirements, and relevance to prevention of invasive species transfers, generally;
(6) Discussion of tool practicability, and relevance to Great Lakes monitoring objectives and the Great Lakes state and federal Great Lakes ballast monitoring policy framework; and
(7) Identification of monitoring technology development and vetting needs, and logical next steps.

The Project Guidebook will describe, review (based on practicum discussions) for Great Lakes regional applicability, and provide relevant reference material for available fundamental ballast monitoring methods. The Guidebook will be widely disseminated to professionals throughout the Great Lakes region and to relevant authorities in the federal government by direct electronic communication, by the project web site, and through a presentation at the September 2019 annual BWMTech ballast water management conference. A video of the workshops and project outcomes will facilitate project outreach.

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For more information, contact

Jeffrey Ram at jeffram@gmail.com

or Allegra Cangelosi at allegracangelosi@gmail.com