Frequently asked questions
- What is a Waste management policy (WMP)?
- What is domestic ballast water?
- What is high risk domestic ballast water?
- How does a ship determine if domestic ballast water is high risk?
- Will there be any costs to ships to comply?
- How do these arrangements affect the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) requirements?
- Where can I find more information?
What is a Waste management policy (WMP)?
A Waste management policy is subordinate legislation made under the Environment Protection Act 1970, and expresses in law the Victorian community’s expectations in relation to the handling and management of waste. The Waste management policy (Ships Ballast Water) 
(PDF 159KB) provides a framework in which a flexible set of tools have been developed for the shipping industry to achieve desired domestic ballast water management outcomes. In Victoria, ballast water is defined as an industrial waste.
What is domestic ballast water?
Domestic ballast water means ballast water that originates from an Australian port or within the territorial sea of Australia. Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) only manages the risks of international ballast water and prior to theWaste management policy (Ships Ballast Water) (PDF 159KB) there was no management requirement for domestic ballast water entering into Victoria.
What is high-risk domestic ballast water?
High-risk domestic ballast water means domestic ballast water that if discharged, is considered to pose a high risk of introducing a marine pest to the receiving waters.
How does a ship determine if domestic ballast water is high-risk?
The risk status of any domestic ballast water is assessed by the ship or the ship’s agent prior to entering Victorian state waters by accessing the risk assessment tool. 
(see section 3 of PEM for details) 
(PDF).
The risk assessment tool is a computer software application developed by the Australian Government in consultation with industry. The risk assessment tool undertakes a biological risk assessment that predicts the likelihood of entry of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens in ballast water on a tank-by-tank basis. The assessment relies on ballast uptake and discharge information entered by a ship’s Master or agent.
The risk assessment tool will assess the domestic ballast water as either ‘low risk’ or ‘high risk’. If the risk assessment tool is not used, ballast water is regarded as high risk. High-risk ballast water must not be discharged to Victorian state waters.
Access to the ABWMIS risk assessment tool
Will there be any costs to ships to comply?
Costs fall into two categories: costs to manage ballast water and administrative costs.
Costs to manage ballast water: Some ships will incur a cost to manage ballast water. The majority of ships will face costs associated with the use of ballast pumps, although these costs are usually quite small. A very small number of ships may have additional costs associated with an extension of their voyage. During the trial of domestic ballast water arrangements in the Port of Hastings there were no ships that employed additional staff to manage ballast water.
Administrative costs: Since the introduction of the Environment Protection (Ships’ Ballast Water) Regulations 2006, every ship that has the capacity to carry marine ballast water visiting a Victorian port is charged a fee. These fees are to recover the costs of administering EPA’s ballast water management framework. Fees will be applied on a visit-by-visit basis except as provided in an annual fee agreement for accredited ships.
(Note: The Regulations provide for fees by reference to fee units under the Monetary Units Act 2004. All government fee units are subject to the annual Consumer Price Index (CPI) adjustments, which are advertised in the Victorian Government Gazette each year prior to the 01st June)
How do these arrangements affect the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) requirements?
These arrangements deal with the risks associated with domestic ballast water and must be completed by all ships visiting a Victorian port.
These domestic ballast water arrangements must be undertaken in addition to any AQIS requirements.
Ships on an international voyage will be required to comply with both EPA domestic ballast water requirements and AQIS international ballast water requirements.
EPA has worked with the shipping industry to ensure that the forms used for the management of domestic ballast water in Victoria are consistent with the forms used by AQIS. These arrangements have been extensively and successfully trialled and have been found to complement the Commonwealth measures for international ballast water in a cost effective manner.
Victoria will adopt the national system once it is completed and provided it meets agreed standards.
Where can I find more information?
There is also a ballast water CD user guide that has been developed to assist the shipping industry in meeting their obligations. For a copy of this CD, please contact the Ballast Water Officer.
You can also contact EPA Ballast Water Officers on:
Phone: +61 3 9695 2547
Fax: +61 3 9695 2520
Email: ballast.water@epa.vic.gov.au
Post: GPO Box 4395 QQ Melbourne 3001
Send an email.