Abstract
Maritime transport is considered a sustainable mean of transporting goods worldwide. In addition to cargo, ships unintentionally transport non-native species. While managing the transport of organisms through ballast water has been at the centre of international efforts, biofouling from ships has not been addressed in the same way and some potentially harmful practices, such as in-water cleaning, still occur worldwide. Another problem arising from ship operating standards is the equipment known as “open-loop scrubbers,” which utilizes seawater to “wash” the sulfur content out of the heavy fuel oil (HFO) and, in turn, discharges an acidic wash water full of sulfur and other substances from fuel oils in the environment. Here, we compare the international regulations applied to both issues and how they have been implemented in Brazil so far, considering the perspective of ports and terminals. Results showed that six of sixteen states have already imposed restrictions/bans on scrubbers wash waters, indicating a clear movement in the direction of restricting the discharge as the best way to prevent air and marine pollution. Regarding biofouling, although there is hope with the adoption of the revised guidelines, there are still some doubts considering these are non-binding, depending on national policies to be implemented. In Brazil, there is no national policy yet, and all public ports prohibit vessels in-water cleaning.
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Data availability
Raw data available on request to the corresponding author.
Notes
Res A/76/L.75.
MEPC 55/4/7—PREVENTION OF AIR POLLUTION FROM SHIPS: Washwater discharge criteria for EGCS-SOx units (Norway and Finland).
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We would like to express our gratitude to MSc. Jennifer Areas for her suggestions for this manuscript.
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Castro and Rangel-Pereira collected and analyzed the data used in this study. Castro, M.C.T wrote the main manuscript text, Scapolatempore, M.P. contributed with the manuscript edition, and Rangel-Pereira, F.S. prepared the figures. All authors reviewed the manuscript.
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Trindade de Castro, M.C., Peixoto Scapolatempore, M. & da Silva Rangel-Pereira, F. Biofouling in-water cleaning and scrubbers wash waters, potential sources of marine pollution: the Brazilian case. Environ Monit Assess 195, 1551 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-12123-7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-023-12123-7