Freighter Detained

From March 7, 1994 (update #20)

A freighter flying a Cypriot flag was the first ocean vessel denied entry to the Great Lakes under new regulations aimed at preventing the introduction of non-native aquatic organisms through foreign vessels' ballast water, according to an article in The Great Lakes Log.

Acting on new ballast-exchange rules that went into effect last May, U.S. Coast Guard officials stopped the Greek-owned Ranger May 18, 1993, at the U.S. Seaway locks in Massena, N.Y., and forced the ship to anchor.

The Coast Guard initially said Ranger had two options: (1) sail back to saltwater to exchange ballast, or (2) seal the ship's ballast tanks, which were carrying some 6,000 tons of ballast water with insufficient salinity, proceed to its destination at Duluth, and load 6,000 tons less cargo. Following two days of negotiations, an agreement was reached to treat the tanks with a saline solution to kill any unwanted organisms. Ranger finally got on its way May 22.

ID: 19940307-8.

The Zebra Mussel Update was a 4- to 8-page quarterly national newsletter published by the University of Wisconsin Sea Grant Institute from May 1990 through May 1997. The ZMU documented the spread of the zebra mussel -- an exotic nuisance mussel -- through North America's freshwater environments, especially the Great Lakes, and on efforts to control it.