Frequently asked questions
What is domestic ballast water?
What is high risk domestic ballast water?
How does a ship determine if domestic ballast water is high risk?
What is a waste management policy (WMP)? What is the Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water)?
What are the Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006?
Will there be any costs to ships to comply?
How do the Victorian arrangements affect the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) requirements?
Why not wait for a national system?
What is domestic ballast water?
Domestic ballast water means ballast water that originates from an Australian port or within the territorial sea of Australia. The Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) only manages the risks of international ballast water and, prior to the Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water), there was no management of domestic ballast water 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 Ballast Water Decision Support System (BWDSS) – see Protocol for Environmental Management for details 
(Adobe PDF file, 295KB).
The BWDSS is a computer application developed by the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS). The BWDSS 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 BWDSS will assess the domestic ballast water as either low risk or high risk. If the BWDSS is not used, ballast water is regarded as high risk. High risk ballast water must not be discharged to Victorian State waters.
Access to BWDSS
What is a waste management policy (WMP)? What is the Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water)?
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) 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 are the Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006?
The Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006 have been introduced to support the Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water).
Will there be any costs to ships to comply?
Costs fall into two categories: costs to manage ballast water and administrative costs.
Administrative costs: Costs to administer the Waste Management Policy (Ships' Ballast Water) are recovered from the shipping industry in accordance with fees set out in the Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006.
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. 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.
From 1 July 2006, all ships with capacity to carry ballast water have to pay a fee every time they visit a Victorian port, as set out in the Environment Protection (Ships' Ballast Water) Regulations 2006.
How do the Victorian arrangements affect the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) requirements?
The domestic ballast water arrangements deal with the risks associated with domestic ballast water and must be completed by all ships visiting a Victorian port.
These arrangements must be undertaken in addition to any AQIS requirements.
Those 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 through an extensive and successful trial 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 agreed upon.
Why not wait for a national system?
If a domestic ballast water management system is not implemented, the Victorian marine environment will suffer from further introductions of marine pests with long lasting and potentially irreversible impacts. Such introductions can create significant impacts on the community's use of the marine environment, create additional trade restrictions and affect other growing industries, such as aquaculture. A recent example in Port Phillip is the introduction of the Northern Pacific Seastar from Tasmania and the significant impact it has had in just a few years.
EPA is currently working with Australian and State government representatives to introduce national arrangements for the management of domestic ballast water. It is anticipated that national arrangements for the management of ballast water will eventually include a single national interface for ships.