A new ballast water sampling device for sampling organisms above 50 micron

Abstract

Many ballast water sampling programmes were undertaken in the past to document the number of individuals and variety of species arriving with ships. As no standard ballast water sampling tool exists various sampling devices were used during these studies. When sampling ballast water for compliance control with the Ballast Water Management Convention prepared by the International Maritime Organization a sampling device is needed which documents the number of organisms per water volume discharged. For organisms above 50 microns (in minimum dimension) less than 10 organisms per cubic meter of water are
acceptable in the ballast water discharged. Further, ballast water samples need to be taken to assess the efficacy of ballast water treatment systems. As a result more than 1,000 liters of water need to be sampled – and this needs to be carried out multiple times as more than one sampling point, several replicates and various sampling occasions are required. This contribution describes a new sampling device for this ballast water sampling purpose.

Full text

Aquatic Invasions (2006) Volume 1, Issue 1: 46-50
DOI 10.3391/ai.2006.1.1.12
© 2006 The Author(s)
Journal compilation © 2006 REABIC (http://www.reabic.net)
This is an Open Access article
46
Technical report
A new ballast water sampling device for sampling organisms above 50 micron
Stephan Gollasch
GoConsult, Bahrenfelder Straße 73 a, 22765 Hamburg, Germany
E-mail: sgollasch@aol.com
Received 6 January 2006; accepted in revised form 20 January 2006
Abstract
Many ballast water sampling programmes were undertaken in the past to document the number of individuals and variety of
species arriving with ships. As no standard ballast water sampling tool exists various sampling devices were used during these
studies. When sampling ballast water for compliance control with the Ballast Water Management Convention prepared by the
International Maritime Organization a sampling device is needed which documents the number of organisms per water volume
discharged. For organisms above 50 microns (in minimum dimension) less than 10 organisms per cubic meter of water are
acceptable in the ballast water discharged. Further, ballast water samples need to be taken to assess the efficacy of ballast water
treatment systems. As a result more than 1,000 liters of water need to be sampled – and this needs to be carried out multiple
times as more than one sampling point, several replicates and various sampling occasions are required. This contribution
describes a new sampling device for this ballast water sampling purpose.
Key words: ballast water sampling, IMO Convention, ballast water treatment, compliance control
Introduction
Experience has shown that sampling ships’
ballast water is a challenge. For biological
analysis carried out to assess the variety of
organisms arriving in ballast (qualitative
analysis) several sampling methods have been
developed (e.g. Gollasch et al. 2002, 2003).
However, these techniques are neither considered
adequate when planning to sample ships for
efficacy tests of ballast water treatment systems
nor for compliance control sampling for the
ballast water discharge standard as set forth in
the International Maritime Organization (IMO)
Ballast Water Management Convention (both
being quantitative approaches) (IMO 2004).
According to the IMO Ballast Water
Management Convention (hereafter the
Convention), the IMO Guideline for Type
Approval of Ballast Water Treatment Systems
and the IMO Guideline on Ballast Water
Sampling large amounts of water need to be
sampled to proof the efficacy of treatment
systems and to assess compliance of ships with
standards as set forth in the Convention.
Regulation D-2 of the Convention stipulates
that ships meeting the requirements of the
Convention must discharge:
• less than 10 viable organisms per cubic
meter greater than or equal to 50
micrometers in minimum dimension, and
• less than 10 viable organisms per millilitre
less than 50 micrometers in minimum
dimension and greater than or equal to 10
micrometers in minimum dimension, and
• less than the following concentrations of
indicator microbes, as a human health
standard:
• Toxigenic Vibrio cholerae (serotypes O1
and O139) with less than 1 Colony Forming
Unit (cfu) per 100 millilitres or less than 1
cfu per 1 gramme (wet weight) of
zooplankton samples,
• Escherichia coli less than 250 cfu per 100
millilitres, and
• Intestinal Enterococci less than 100 cfu
per 100 millilitres.
Especially to document the number of
organisms above 50 microns is challenging as
less than 10 organisms per cubic meter of water
are acceptable. As a result more than 1,000 liters

A new ballast water sampling device
47
of water need to be sampled multiple times as
more than one sampling point, several replicates
and various sampling occasions are required.
Organisms in the ballast tank may not equally
be distributed, i.e. the concentration of
organisms in the discharged ballast water may
vary. To allow for representative sampling of the
organism content in ballast water it is therefore
recommended that samples should be taken
during the entire discharge time which is enabled
by using this new sampling device.
Another challenge is to document the volume
of water which had been sampled in land-based
and onboard tests. As sampling for compliance
control with IMO standards may also have legal
implications (in case of non-compliance)
accuracy is essential.
The newly designed sampling device,
developed by Hydrobios1, one of the leading
manufacturers of scientific sampling gear in
Germany, allows such sampling. This sampling
approach likely delivers a more representative
sample of larger organism density when being
discharged from a ship in both cases (a) for
compliance control and (b) for efficacy tests of
ballast water treatment systems.
This device consists of a flexible sampling
bag with a filtering cod-end both being
especially designed for this purpose. This cod-
end has removable filtering panels and can be
unscrewed from the sampling bag. An integrated
flow-meter allows for accuracy to document the
filtered volume of water.
Advantages of the Sampling Device
1. The sampling device can be hung to the
ceiling, i.e. does not need a stand to be
operated which is unlikely to be available on
ships or is difficult to install in e.g. the ships
engine room.
2. Its light weight eases transportation to and
within the ship in case various sampling
points need to be sampled consecutively.
3. The sampling bag can be folded, i.e. it is
easier to carry which is especially an
advantage when using narrow stairs in ships
engine rooms – or when sampling needs to
be undertaken in densely packed cargo rooms
(e.g. on car carriers).
4. The device is completely independent from
the ships operation (other than ballast water
operations), i.e. does not require power
supply etc.
5. Cleaning of the non-stick bag can easily be
done by rinsing with water.
6. The filtering cod-end can be unscrewed and
after cleaning of the bag the unit is ready for
use immediately, i.e. several samples may be
taken in a short period of time by simply
sealing one cod-end and screwing on another
cod-end. Sealed used cod-ends may be
placed in a water tight container to avoid
damage or impairment of survival of sampled
organisms. Alternatively the filtering sieve
of the cod-end may be replaced with a new
sieve after each sampling occasion. The
replaced filter sieve should be put into the
sample container for later screening of
organisms. This also eases the cleaning of
the sieve to avoid organism contamination
with future samples. As a result samples can
be carried to the analysing laboratory
without any further processing onboard, such
as sieving at the sampling location etc. The
filter sieve replacement is a matter of
minutes and allows the use of only one cod-
end for multiple samplings.
7. The integrated flow-meter enables a precise
measurement of the water volume filtered2.
8. Compared to using buckets a bigger water
volume can be filtered as the device collects
and filters the water at the same time. The
limiting factor is the concentration of
organism and particular matter in the water.
In case the organism and particle
concentration in the water is low, sampling
can be "endless" when the time for filling the
device equals to the time needed for water
filtration through the filtering cod-end.
9. It works time efficient, i.e. up to 2.5 tonnes
of ballast water were sampled in less than 30
minutes.
10. Discharge of filtered water after sampling
may be carried out by dumping it in the bilge
water system. In case sampling is undertaken
in areas where water spillage cannot be
1www.hydrobios.de
2This is difficult when using buckets, especially when the vessel to be sampled is moving, due to heavy seas or in cargo
operations buckets may overflow.

S. Gollasch
48
tolerated, the spillage can be minimised by
directing the filtered water with a hose to a
sink – or by placing a water collecting tank
underneath the device which may be emptied
as requested. In case the treatment system
uses backwash-lines to discharge filter
backwash material, this backwash line may
also be used to discharge the filtered water.
11. In case the sampling procedure takes longer,
organism survival may be impaired by the long
sampling time. To allow optimal organism
survival, the tap of the cod-end may than be
opened every 10 minutes to extract sampled
organisms (subsample). By doing so organism
exposure to air is minimised. Organisms in all
subsamples should be counted.
All these advantages will result in an efficient,
timely and accurate sampling of ballast water. In
addition due to the time efficient application, the
number of samples or replicates taken by the
sampling crew may be increased without any
extra working hours.
Technical Details Inline Flow Meter
The flow meter reads the metric system with a
flow indication per sampling event and a
cumulative lifetime measurement (Figure 1).
Figure 1. Flow meter
Measuring range: 9 l/min (= 0,15 l/sec) up to 200
l/min (= 3,33 l/sec)
Accuracy1: < 96% of reading from 200 l/min to
50 l/min
Pipe diameter: 20 mm
Pressure rating: 10 bars
Hose connection: Hose nozzle for hose diameters
of 25 up to 27 mm
Fluid temperature: 0°C ... +50°C
Material: Inline fitting: PVC
Paddle wheel: PVDF
Axle: Ceramic
O-Ring: FPM
Electronic housing: PC
Front plate cover: Polyester
Batteries: 2 x 9 V DC (6LR6/PP3)
Autonomy min. 2 years2 at +20°C
Technical Details Filter Bag and Cod-end
The filter bag (Figure 2) and cod-end (Figure 3)
are especially designed for the purpose of ballast
water sampling. The cod-end may be unscrewed
from the sampling bag after sampling (Figure 4).
Figure 2. Filter bag
Diameter: 40 cm
Length: 100 cm
Cod-end: PVC, 60 mm diameter, two side
windows covered with Monyl 50 micron mesh size
(diagonal dimension) filtering panels and with tap.
1Further calibration experiments will be carried out shortly and will likely result in higher reading accuracy.
2Low battery charge level is automatically indicated.

A new ballast water sampling device
49
Figure 3. Cod-end with tap
Figure 4. Cod-end may be unscrewed from filtering bag
The flow meter outlet in the net is bended
which results in a spiral water flow in the sam-
pling bag. By doing so organism damage during
sampling is minimised and the filtration rate of
the cod-end is increased.
The filtering sieve of the cod-end may be
replaced after each sampling occasion allowing
for multiple samplings by using the identical
cod-end. This also eases the cleaning of the sieve
to avoid organism contamination with future
samples.
Sample analysis
Organisms need to be analysed as soon as
possible after sampling – as the IMO standards
refer to living organisms, i.e. samples taken
during a ships voyage need to be analysed
onboard. However, analysis of larger organisms
onboard is also a challenge, especially when the
ship is in motion. When using Petri dishes and a
stereo-microscope, organisms counting may not
be accurate as the ship movement induces water
movements in the Petri dish. As a result orga-
nisms may be counted twice and some may be
missed out from counting. To avoid this, a
Bogorov counting chamber may be used. During
minimal ship movements, this chamber proved to
be efficient during onboard trials. However, with
increasing ship movements the Bogorov chamber
looses its advantage. HydroBios therefore de-
signed three new counting chambers which may
be used during stronger ship movements. These
new chambers allow for greater accuracy in
counting larger organisms onboard (Figure 5).
Figure 5. Newly designed zooplankton counting chambers

S. Gollasch
50
Sampling access point
This zooplankton sampling device may either be
connected to a sampling point in the ships´
ballast water discharge line (after treatment for
efficiency tests of the treatment system or in the
discharge line to proof compliance with the IMO
ballast water discharge standard) or alternatively
a pump may be used to pump up the water from a
ballast tank. In any case, the water flow should
be between 10 and 200 litres a minute to allow
for best accuracy of the flow meter.
Resume
This new sampling device was developed to
solve the challenges encountered when sampling
ballast water. Onboard tests have shown that the
device is essential for timely and accurate
sampling events - up to 2.5 tonnes of ballast
water were sampled in less than 30 minutes. It is
hoped that the use of this device enables efficient
and accurate samplings to (a) test ballast water
treatment systems and (b) to assess whether or
not ships are in compliance with the standards as
set forth in the Convention.
References
Gollasch S, Macdonald E, Belson S, Botnen H, Christensen J,
Hamer J, Houvenaghel G, Jelmert A, Lucas I, Masson D,
McCollin T, Olenin S, Persson A, Wallentinus I, Wetsteyn
B & Wittling T (2002). Life in Ballast Tanks. pp. 217-231
In: Leppäkoski E, Gollasch S & Olenin S (eds.): Invasive
Aquatic Species of Europe: Distribution, Impacts and
Management. KLUWER Academic Publishers, Dordrecht,
The Netherlands, 583 pp
Gollasch S, Rosenthal H, Botnen H, Crncevic M, Gilbert M,
Hamer J, Hülsmann N, Mauro C, McCann L, Minchin D,
Öztürk B, Robertson M, Sutton C & Villac MC (2003)
Species richness and invasion vectors: Sampling
techniques and biases. Biological Invasions 5: 365-377
IMO (2004) International Convention for the Control and
Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments.
BWM/CONF/36. 36 pp