We have the regulations. We have the technology. So why is ballast water compliance still a challenge?
Europe’s seas are under pressure.
The recently published Marine Messages III – State, Pressures, and Choices for the Future of Europe’s Seasfrom the European Environment Agency paints a concerning picture:
https://www.eionet.europa.eu/etcs/etc-be/products/etc-be-products/etc-be-report-2026-3
97% of assessed European marine areas are considered problematic in terms of biodiversity. Only 32% of assessed commercial fish stocks were both sustainably fished and in good biological condition in 2023. And invasive non-indigenous species affect at least 27% of Europe’s coastal waters.
These are serious numbers.
But one of the most important messages in the report is perhaps not what is missing.
It is what we already have.
Europe has spent decades building environmental legislation, targets and strategies. We have extensive scientific knowledge. And for many of the environmental challenges facing our seas, technologies and practical solutions already exist.
Yet there remains a significant gap between environmental ambitions and what happens in practice.
For Bawat, that is a particularly important discussion.
Invasive species: a problem we already know how to address
Invasive non-indigenous species may receive less attention than emissions, overfishing or chemical pollution, but they remain a significant threat to marine ecosystems.
Shipping remains a major pathway.
Marine Messages III identifies shipping as the largest pathway for new introductions of marine non-indigenous species through, among other things, ballast water and hull fouling.
Ships are associated with 51.2% of new introductions.
The mechanism is well known.
A vessel takes on ballast water in one part of the world. Marine organisms enter the ballast tanks with it. Thousands of kilometres later, that water may be discharged into a completely different marine environment.
Once an invasive species becomes established, reversing the damage can be extremely difficult – if not impossible.
But here is what makes ballast water different from many environmental challenges:
- The problem is known.
- The regulation exists.
- Approved technologies exist.
So why are we still talking about compliance?
Regulation meets operational reality
The IMO Ballast Water Management Convention already regulates the treatment and discharge of ballast water.
But regulation on paper does not automatically mean compliance in practice.
This is something we see every day at Bawat.
Ships experience BWMS failures. Vessels arrive at shipyards with ballast water that needs to be discharged. Dry-docking and recycle operations create situations that were not necessarily anticipated in the original ballast water management plan.
Ports, shipyards and vessel operators can suddenly find themselves facing a very practical question:
What do we do with the ballast water now?
The environmental requirement has not disappeared.
Neither has the organism in the tank.
This is where the distance between regulation and operational reality becomes critical. Because once you have non-compliant ballast water you simply are not allowed to discharge it either at sea nor a dry dock, a port or at a recycle facility.
The solutions already exist to handle this challenge
The encouraging part is that these situations can be solved.
Alternatives from ship installed BWMS treatment capacity can be brought to the vessel e.g. a mobile BWMS systems can provide temporary treatment capacity when an onboard ship system cannot. This is true irrespective of where a ship experience this non-compliant challenge and in essence the mobile BWMS acts as land-based reception facilities. At Bawat, we see this solution utilised across ports, shipyards and vessels.
Our Ballast Water as a Service operations are designed precisely for these situations – from planned shipyard operations and port reception facilities to emergency response when the original compliance plan no longer works.
From rules to results
Marine Messages III is alarming, but it also contains an important reason for optimism.
Marine ecosystems can recover when pressure is reduced, habitats are restored and environmental measures are implemented consistently and at sufficient scale.
In other words, we are not powerless.
In many cases, we know the problem. We have established the regulatory framework. And we have developed technologies capable of addressing it.
The question is whether we are prepared to use them.
For ballast water, the goal should not simply be to have a convention, an approved management plan or a treatment system installed onboard.
Because ultimately, environmental regulation should not be measured by the number of rules we have adopted.
It should be measured by what happens in the water.
Source: Bawat
