Ballast Tanks, and the Hazards they possess.

Larger vessels are made to travel in the open seas and over greater distances. So with these longer travels come bigger weather issues such as storms, large waves, and heavy amounts of wind and rainfall. These large vessels use ballast tanks to stabilize their ships when weather like this comes along. Ballast tanks are large containers within the vessel that can take on water, or release water all at the touch of a button. They are used to put weight in the middle of the ship to help reduce the rocking so the passengers are more comfortable, and the ship can travel faster. They sound like a great idea, use the water that's all around you, to make travels faster and more comfortable, and when you're done with them, you can just release the water back into the oceans.

What is not mentioned with these ballast tanks are what kind of waters are you bringing onto the ship, and what waters are you releasing it back into?  For example one issue that is of concern right now are the zebra mussels in the Great Lakes.To learn more on the effects of Zebra Mussels in the Great Lakes, click here. Zebra mussels are indigenous to Southeast Russia, but have spread across the globe. The point to me seems obvious, you are taking on water (and whatever is in the water at that point) on one side of the ocean, and then depositing everything in a completely different section of the world. This is going to turn into a catastrophe because no one knows how salt water organisms will react in a fresh water environment. They may live in harmony, or they may spread like wildfire killing everything in its path just to survive.

A solution that I've just come up with while just sitting here is to why not have filters when taking on ballast water and releasing it. It will stop the larger organisms from travelling into foreign waters and devastating the ecosystems there, and it will keep them in their natural environment. This isn't a perfect solution but if I've been able to come up with this idea by just sitting here thinking for 2 minutes, then why can't experts who are more educated and paid to do this, come up with a better idea and start implementing it so invasions like the zebra mussels in the Great Lakes will stop, or at least slow down?

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Coast Guard and EPA help out

In a news release from February 12 of this year, the coast guard and the Environment Protection Agency signed a memorandum stating that they will coordinate efforts to help stop vessels such as cruise liners, commercial fishery vessels, oil tankers and others from dumping waste into the ocean. This waste includes anything from sewage, to ballast water that's used to stable ships, to even rain run off from the decks.

It's nice to see that the government and other agencies are stepping up and seeing that this is a problem. The difficult part of enforcing this (from what I see) is that if you come across a vessel doing this in open water, then who is the one who punishes them? Is it the nation of the vessel whose dumping? Is is the nation of the Coast Guard who catches them? Is it the nation of the waters that they're currently in, or a combination of all these countries? It's little problems like these that let ships get away with their dumpings, because if they get caught, the price that they pay for it is a lot less than the price they would have to pay to keep their wastes on board. So realistically the ships are getting a good deal if they're dumping their wastes. The penalties need to be higher, and they need to be enforced quicker instead of being stuck in limbo with politics and who charge these polluters.

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Intro/ How big is this problem?

This is my first time writing a blog, so all of this is new to me.  I'm hoping to learn as I go, with help from roommates, friends, and reading other peoples blogs and seeing how they're using this site, and how it is helping them get their opinions across.  Out of this blogging experience I'm hoping to get more research and knowledge out of this subject, and to get real facts and expert opinions on it.  I chose this subject because I want to gain experience in this tourism market because I want to one day work with a cruise liner industry.

According to the Daily News and Analysis (DNA) in 2009, between 15-18 millions people worldwide went on a cruise, despite the global recession.  So this shows us that the cruise line industry isn't disappearing any time soon.  With that said, how bad is the cruise line industry to the environment?  Is it dumping toxins into the ocean? Where do all the sewage from sinks, showers and toilets go?  In this 6 week blog, I plan on researching some of these questions, and others, and finding the truth about how eco-friendly this growing market really is.

Cheers