Federal Legislation

Several bills regarding ballast water/AIS have been passed, and several more are currently in Congress. For information on AIS funding levels and federal policy issues, visit Northeast-Midwest's website on AIS.

Legislation currently before Congress
Visit thomas.gov or click on the links below to keep track of several bills on AIS and ballast water that have been introduced in the 110th session of Congress, including:
Aquatic Invasive Species Research Act [H.R.260]
Great Lakes Collaboration Implementation Act of 2007 [S.791 and H.R.1350]
Great Lakes Invasive Species Control Act [H.R.801]
National Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2007 [S.725] Get a summary from the Northeast-Midwest Institute.
Prevention of Aquatic Invasive Species Act of 2007 [H.R.889]
The Ballast Water Management Act of 2007 [H.R. 2423] More on the bill can also be found here.

Established Legislation

The Nonindigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 (NANCPA 1990)
NANCPA 1990 mandated ballast water management for vessels entering the Great Lakes.

National Invasive Species Act of 1996 (NISA 1996)
This law reauthorized NANCPA 1990, and required the development of voluntary ballast management guidelines for all other ships entering U.S. waters. The law also requires all vessels that enter U.S. territorial waters (with certain exemptions) to manage ballast water according to prescribed measures. Additional requirements are in place for the Great Lakes. NISA 1996 also required the U.S. Coast Guard (USCG) to evaluate the effectiveness of the voluntary ballast management program three years after implementation. In 2004, voluntary guidelines were determined to be ineffective, and thus USCG initiated mandatory ballast management for all ships entering U.S. waters from outside the Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ) of the United States. Current management strategies for preventing introductions via ballast water are limited to ballast water retention, open ocean exchange or alternate environmentally sound methods of ballast water management approved by USCG.

Get the detailed summary of the National Invasive Species Act of 1996.

Back to Ballast Management: Laws and Regulations