1.2 ORIGIN OF THE INQUIRY

Since the turn of the century, ships carrying ballast water and sediment taken up with ballast water have been known to carry plants, animals, viruses and bacteria from one marine environment to another. Marine fouling and hull fouling in particular - hulls wholly or partially encrusted with attached organisms - have also been recognised as a vehicle for the spread of marine organisms.

When ballast water taken on-board at ports of embarkation is discharged at destination ports, organisms may be released into new and receptive marine environments. Certain organisms have adapted to the new environments with sometimes significant environmental, economic and social consequences. Indeed, some introductions have been so successful that the spread of exotic marine organisms by ballast water and marine/hull fouling has, carried to its logical conclusion, the capacity to create marine monocultures that threaten local, national and, ultimately, international biodiversity.

Since the early 1970s the Australian Federal Government, particularly through the Australian Quarantine and Inspection Service , has been active in researching and proposing management strategies designed to limit the introduction of marine organisms. It has promoted the need for better understanding of the impacts of ballast water discharge to the international community and is a major participant in international efforts to better control the translocation of marine organisms.

Within Australia, concern over the impact of translocated species has also emphasised the need to better understand the role played by domestic shipping in spreading exotic organisms. The December 1995 Australian Ballast Water Management Strategy, a product of government, industry and conservation cooperation, promotes international and national measures alike in response to ballast water problems.

The Victorian Government has been an active participant in such efforts. Agencies such the Environment Protection Authority, the Department of Natural Resources and the Environment, and the Department of Roads and Ports through its port authorities, have been involved in ballast water research and commentary, and in contributing to domestic and national management policies and strategies. The Environment and Natural Resources Committee made brief comment on the problem in its 1994 Report on the Environmental Impacts of Commonwealth Activities and Places in Victoria.
Despite such efforts, concerns remain over the problem of marine organism transfer into Victorian waters. In addition to exotic organisms originating from overseas ports, there is a risk of translocation of established exotic species between domestic ports, and the transfer of indigenous species to new Australian environments. Nor is the scale of the problem or the appropriate management response fully understood. Efforts to date have concentrated on high profile or "target" pest species. Introduced species that have not yet made, or may not make, a visible impact have been examined less closely.

While supporting completely the initiatives taken federally and internationally by Australia, and acknowledging fully the need for all the states and territories to work cooperatively on this problem, the urgency of the issue in Victoria has compelled the Government to consider local responses that reinforce long-term federal strategies while simultaneously providing some degree of short-term protection to Victorian waters. It is this concern that led to the Inquiry on Ballast Water and Hull Fouling in Victoria being referred to the Environment and Natural Resources Committee.