Legal and Technical Aspects of Ballast Water Management: Should Malaysia Ratify the IMO International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water & Sediments 2004?

Shipping moves about 80 per cent of the world’s commodities and transfers some 3-5 billion tonnes of ballast water internationally each year; not taking into account the volume of water transferred domestically within countries and regions. It is widely acknowledged that ballast water, although necessary to maintain safety and stability at sea; represents one of the major factors for the translocation of non-indigenous organisms. According to the International
Maritime Organization (IMO), there are some 7,000 different species of organisms carried in ships’ ballast tanks at any one time. When discharged, many of these organisms have the
potential to create disastrous biological invasions causing serious ecological, economical and human health repercussions. Looking at this, several countries have introduced voluntary and mandatory reporting and regulations to minimize the risks of harmful organisms’ introduction;
besides carrying out research and development on ballast water treatment systems. At the Diplomatic Conference in February 2004, the IMO adopted an international legal regime - the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments 2004 which is now steadily moving towards implementation.