Hastings National Demonstration Project
The Hastings National Demonstration Project was undertaken between 1 July 2001 and 31 December 2002. The start of this project coincided with the introduction of Commonwealth government mandatory ballast water management requirements for all international voyages. The Commonwealth requirements did not include management arrangements for ballast water from domestic (other Australian ports) sources, and this project was conceived to trial the integrated management of both domestic and international ballast water at the one port to assess its suitability for Australia wide implementation.
Western Port was chosen as the site for a national demonstration project to manage the risks of marine pest introductions from both international and domestically sourced ballast water. The project was a major step towards the implementation of a comprehensive ballast water management system for Victoria. The project provided a port model for ballast water management that can be implemented in other Australian ports. It is an important step towards the development of a single national ballast water management regime.
Western Port was chosen as the demonstration site because it had few marine pests and is within close proximity to the internationally recognised Western Port Ramsar site. It also had a smaller number of shipping movements (about 200 per year) that made trial more manageable.
EPA managed the project on behalf of a Victorian Government consortium consisting of EPA, Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE) and Department of Infrastructure (DOI). Partners in the project included the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service (AQIS) and CSIRO-Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP).
The project cost was $800,000; of which $440,000 was from the State Government Victoria and $360,000 from Department of Environment and Heritage via the Natural Heritage Trust: Coast and Clean Seas initiative. AQIS is providing the computer-based risk assessment tool for assessing ballast water risk (the DSS) and CSIRO-CRIMP is also making a significant contribution.
The shipping and port industries supported the project and have been operating in accordance with the management system since 1 July 2001. Although the project ended on the 31 December 2002, management of domestic ballast water continued in Western Port because of ongoing community and industry support for the project. Since July 2004, ships visiting Western Port have been required to manage ballast water in accordance with the waste management policy.
The project was independently evaluated to address how the objectives of the project have been met including physical implementation and environmental effectiveness. View the report (Adobe PDF file, 1632KB or 1.6MB).