[CPEO-MEF] BIW's floating drydock from China: update

[coastwatch@acadia.net]

Friends - An update on an issue that was brought up on cpeo-military in
February: the question of whether  the large  floating drydock that Bath
Iron Works had built in China and towed around the world to their New
England facility arrived here with  a complement of non-indigenous asian
coastal marine organisms aboard as hull-fouling organisms.

According to a company spokesperson. Yes.   

 See the story in today's (April 28, 2001)  Portland (Maine) Press Herald:
   http://www.portland.com/news/coast/010428biw.shtml

 Regrettably, as  alluded to in the story, since the floating drydock's
arrival in Bath, Maine,   the company has  been stonewalling releasing the
results of its dive surveys of the drydock's hull, beyond aafter several
months - a very vague statement that mentions molluscan egg cases and
unknown but nonindigenous snail species. The company's reluctance to
release any information has been a source of frustration and  vexation
the Maine Department of Marine Resources and coastal public interest
groups, who thus  lack sufficient information to determine the best course
of action to take.  

 Who might be the appropriate persons within the BIW/General Dynamics
hierarchy to bring our concerns to?   

- Ron Huber
Penobscot Bay Watch
www.penbay.org
coastwatch@acadia.net

PS:  See an online story on the BIW  floating drydock's arrival in Maine at
 http://rockland.k2Bh.com/Community/Story.cfm?StoryID=5267


BACKGROUND 
In February of this year Bath Iron Works,  builder of Aegis missile
cruisers and other naval
vessels, had a very large floating drydock that had been assembled on the
Chinese coast
 arrive at the BIW- General Dynamics facility on Maine coast after a six
month voyage.  

See a profile of the BIW  floating drydock's arrival in Maine  at
http://rockland.k2Bh.com/Community/Story.cfm?StoryID=5267

Inquiring scientists  wanted the  hull and ballast water spaces
examined for exotic marine pest species, such as the asian shore crab, or
Chinese mole crab.  

The voyage of the drydock, thanks to a typhoon and other unforeseeable
events , took triple the planned length of time. The drydock left China on
August 27, 2000, and  arrived  February 17, 2001  at the Bath Iron Work's
facility in Bath Maine on the Kennebec River.  The drydock & the towing
tugboat had stops along the way in Pusan, Korea, and San Juan, Puerto Rico.

This includes both its ballast water ( a very
substantial amount),  the sediment and organisms that settled out of the
ballast water and congealed on the sides and bottom of the drydock's
ballast tanks, and the fouling organisms that fastened onto the submerged
hull portions of the drydock during the journey.

See discussion of the role of drydocks in aquatic suisance species
transmission at the International Joint Commission's  " White Paper On
Policies for the Prevention of The Invasion of the Great Lakes by Exotic 
Organisms"
http://www.ijc.org/milwaukee/wrkshps/epballast.html

Exotic species such as the asian shore crab can have marked impacts on
coastal ecosystems that do not have them, yet have the environment that
allows them to colonize.

Given the extended length of the BIW floating drydock's journey, thanks to
the unexpected typhoon, and other delays, there was a substantial amount 
of time for bottom fouling organisms to grow on the hull.   This is a very
common phenomenon.  One of the concerns, as we have very few ships from 
China making a call on a Maine port, is that Chinese crustaceans, such as 
the Asian shore crab and the Chinese mole crab,  could survive the voyage 
amid the barnacles and other fouling organisms on the drydock hull in 
sufficient numbers to colonize the midcoast and waters south in the Maine 
Coastal Current plume.

Researchers and bio-invasion specialists suggest that the outer  hull and
the interior ballast spaces  be examined, and samples collected, using
either divers or an ROV (remotely operated vehicle).    If Asian shore
crabs or other nuisance species are detected,  then standard  aquatic
nuisance species removal techniques would be employed, similar to those
used to clear floating drydocks and municipal water intake pipes in the
Great Lakes area of zebra mussels and other pest organisms, without
spreading them into the water column.

All in all, not terribly expensive and a good precautionary exercise that
will also inform the scientific community on an issue of great interest to
them. With environmental security being part of the greater defense
mission,  this is one worth doing.

My question to CPEO-military is How does one go about getting such a
defense contactor as General Dynamics/Bath Ironworks to go along with the
bio-researchers?

People & links relevant to this issue:

BIW/General Dynamics
*Sue Pierter Director - Communications
Bath Iron Works Bath, Maine 04530
Tel:  (207) 442-1149 E-mail: susan.pierter@gdbiw.com
Sue is agreeable to having this looked into, and has passed the inquiry to
her company's science people.

MAINE DEPT OF MARINE RESOURCES
* John Sowles,  Maine DMR marine science  officer , West Boothbay 
Harbor.  john.sowles@state.me.us   Tel: (207)633-9500

Months ago,  Sowles requested that BIW be sure that the 
drydock  followingaccepted International Maritime Organization protocols 
and  dump itsChinese ballast water in mid ocean before taking on a load of 
"clean"
midocean water ballast,  prior to arriving in Maine waters. He doesn't know
yet whether they did so, but in response to inquiries from NGO and 
academicpersons, is considering  assembling the needed divers and others 
to adequately sample the fauna and flora attached to the submerged parts 
of the floating drydock's hull surfaces and ballast spaces.

*James Carlton,  past head of the International Maritime Organization's
aquatic nuisance species study committee and editor of "Biological
Invasions" a scientific journal devoted to this topic.  Carlton is
participating in a research into the phenomenon of floating drydocks as
exotic species transport vectors.  He will be attending an international
meeting on just that issue next week; he considers the BIW floating 
drydock to be a significant  potential transmission vector, and would be 
glad to help arrange for the examination  and sample gathering.
Tel 860-572-5359  email   jcarlton@williams.edu
Website http://www.williamsmystic.org
Editor-in-Chief, Biological Invasions
(http://www.wkap.nl/journals/biological_invasions)

BACK GROUND
#Two scientific reports on marine bio-invasions:
* A USGS report on the role of marine transport in exotic species
introduction: http://nas.er.usgs.gov/publications/sfinvade.htm

* A European Union Report: "Testing Monitoring Systems for Risk Assessment 
of Harmful Introductions by Ships to European Waters"
http://members.aol.com/_ht_a/sgollasch/sgollasch

AGENCIES AND SCIENTIFIC ORGANIZATIONS
National Aquatic Nuisance Species Task Force   www.anstaskforce.gov
"An intergovernmental organization dedicated to preventing and controlling
aquatic nuisance species, and implementing the Nonindigenous Aquatic
Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990."

United States Geological Survey
Nonindigenous Aquatic Species (NAS) information service
http://nas.er.usgs.gov/

Northeast/Midwest Institute's  Biopollution program
http://www.nemw.org/biopollute.htm

MEDIA COVERAGE OF INVADER SPECIES
www.abcnews.go.com/sections/science/DailyNews/invader_japanesecrab001205.html


Cheers

Ron Huber



*
Ronald C. Huber
Task Force Atlantis
418 Main Street
Rockland ME 04841
(207) 594-5717
email coastwatch@acadia.net
URL  http://www.atlantisforce.org
*

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