On 4th October 2016, the US Coast Guard issued a notice on its Coast Guard Maritime Commons Blog in which it provided a recap of a presentation delivered by Lt. Cmdr. Jason Kling, of the Coast Guard Marine Safety Center, at the 2016 BWMTech Conference in Miami 26th-28th September. Lt. Cmdr. Jason Kling described the differences between the U.S. and IMO ballast water standards, and the process for U.S. type-approval of a BWM system. He explained that the Coast Guard uses four separate offices to manage the different areas of responsibility for the US Ballast Water Management Program, these being:

1.     The Office of Operating and Environmental Standards

2.     The Office of Design and Engineering Standards

3.     The Marine Safety Center

4.     The Office of Commercial Vessel Compliance

This notice provides a good overview of the complex US Ballast Water Management regulatory program. If Members have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact your usual contact at the Club.

The California State Lands Commission has released a Notice inviting comments from the public between September 23 to November 7, 2016 on the Commission's proposal to amend the regulations of Article 4.5 of the Marine Invasive Species Control Fund Fee.  We highlight this for the Member's information.  http://www.slc.ca.gov/Laws-Regs/Proposed-MISP4-5.html