Aquatic Invasive Species and the Evolution of Canadian and U.S. Ballast Water Regulations in the Great Lakes--Rowing in Tandem or Muddying the Waters?

Abstract

Ballast water released from large ships is a vector for the introduction of aquatic invasive alien species.' The establishment of these foreign plants, animals, and organisms has significant economic and ecological impacts.2 Due to high ship traffic on the St. Lawrence Seaway and the Great Lakes, many bio-invasions have resulted from ballast water release. Since the late 1980s, the United States and Canada have introduced regulations concerning the release of ballast water, evolving from ineffective voluntary guideline measures to more stringent mandatory ones. Both countries took similar, corresponding management measures, until late in the 2000s when the United States applied its Clean Water Act to ballast water release.s The State of New York enforced this new application rigorously, and generated strict regulations.6 Canada vociferously denounced the enhanced regulations. In February 2012, New York decided to discontinue these more stringent ballast water regulations and wait for the enactment of stricter federal ballast regulations. However, if New York had continued to apply a more stringent