The inadvertent transfer of harmful aquatic organisms in a vessel’s ballast water has been determined to have caused a significant adverse impact to many of the world’s coastal regions. Ballast water discharge typically contains a variety of biological materials, including plants, animals, viruses, and bacteria that can cause extensive ecological and economic damage to aquatic ecosystems.
The international maritime community, with the support of the International Maritime Organization (IMO) has developed several new regulations to help prevent the introduction of unwanted organisms. However, competent maritime authorities have a very limited capability to monitor vessel’s compliance to this rule. Without Satellite AIS data, authorities are often left with little to no information to link a probable culprit to the incident.We've put together an infographic that illustrates the impacts of ballast water discharge and why it's so important to monitor vessels' compliance to ballast water exchange in the designated areas for marine environment protection.