Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA.
Smithsonian Environmental Research Center, 647 Contees Wharf Road, Edgewater, MD 21037, USA; University of Rhode Island, Graduate School of Oceanography, 215 S Ferry Road, Narragansett, RI 02882, USA.
Mar Pollut Bull. 2020 Jun;155:111165. doi: 10.1016/j.marpolbul.2020.111165. Epub 2020 May 11.
The International Maritime Organization and U.S. Coast Guard have implemented regulations to reduce introductions of non-indigenous species via ballast water (BW). For phytoplankton, regulations limit discharges to <10 live/viable cells mL (size: 10-50 μm), ignoring other size fractions. Additionally, challenge conditions of 100 (shipboard) and 1000 (land-based) cells mL are required in BW management system certification testing. How these requirements correspond to natural phytoplankton populations is poorly resolved. We analyzed phytoplankton samples from 31 major ports to evaluate: a) how natural communities compare to challenge requirements and b) abundances of unregulated size fractions (i.e., <10 and ≥50 μm). None of the ports met land-based challenge conditions, and only 32% met requirements for shipboard testing. Approximately 71% of organisms ≥50 μm were centric diatoms, also unregulated by current protocols. This study demonstrates that current regulations do not consider natural phytoplankton populations, limiting control efforts for potentially harmful non-indigenous species.
国际海事组织和美国海岸警卫队已经实施了规定，以减少压载水（BW）中引入非本地物种。对于浮游植物，法规将排放量限制在<10 个活/可存活细胞 mL（大小：10-50μm），而忽略了其他大小分数。此外，在 BW 管理系统认证测试中需要 100（船上）和 1000（陆基）个细胞 mL 的挑战条件。这些要求与自然浮游植物种群的对应关系尚不清楚。我们分析了来自 31 个主要港口的浮游植物样本，以评估：a）自然群落如何与挑战要求相比，以及 b）未受监管的大小分数（即<10μm 和≥50μm）的丰度。没有一个港口符合陆基挑战条件，只有 32%符合船上测试要求。大约 71%的≥50μm 生物是中心硅藻，目前的协议也没有对其进行监管。这项研究表明，现行法规没有考虑自然浮游植物种群，限制了对潜在有害非本地物种的控制努力。
