Overall conclusions on the ballast water issue and its management options

Abstract

Ballast water management was demonstrated to be a complex issue, hence there are no simple solutions. The BWM Convention was adopted to support globally a uniform approach to prevent harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens to be further spread around the world by ballast water and sediment releases, considering the aspects of safe and efficient operations of shipping, while at the same time providing for the protection of natural environments, human health, property and resources. The conclusions and the current state of knowledge is summarized here and presented thematically sorted as per the book chapters. The overall final conclusions are presented at the end including an outlook highlighting future ballast water management related issues which need to be solved.