The University of Wisconsin-Superior’s Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) recently received a five-year cooperative agreement and funding for the first year at a level of $7,965,000 from the U.S. Department of Transportation Maritime Administration (MARAD).The funding is supported by the GLRI and intended to further current efforts that address curtailment of aquatic nuisance species within the Great Lakes associated with ballast water operations and other aquatic nuisance species issues associated with commercial shipping. The agreement supports the continuation of MARAD and the LSRI Great Waters Research Collaborative’s (GWRC) work on the EPA’s GLRI Action Plan and the seven-year research effort, the Great Lakes Ballast Water Research and Development Plan, which is being implemented to support the Vessel Incidental Discharge Act (VIDA) and Great Lakes and Lake Champlain Invasive Species Program (GLLCISP) goals.
MARAD and LSRI’s GWRC executes tests of ballast-water management-systems (BWMS). The GWRC also monitors ship-mediated transfers of organisms within the Great Lakes, generally, and researches any continuing risk of ship-mediated invasive species. The GWRC is a successful partnership that produced detailed scientific investigations of commercial vessel ballast water as sources of aquatic invasive species and innovations to prevent species introductions, testing method development and independent, third-party evaluations of ballast water management systems, and associated sensor technologies. This relationship recently resulted in the development of a seven-year R&D Plan, approved by the EPA Office of Water, that supports the goals of VIDA and GLLCISP.
UW-Superior’s Lake Superior Research Institute (LSRI) recently received a five-year cooperative agreement and funding for the first year at a level of $7,965,000 from the United States Department of Transportation Maritime Administration. The funding is intended to further current efforts that address curtailment of aquatic nuisance species within the Great Lakes associated with ballast water operations and other aquatic nuisance species issues associated with commercial shipping.