RECALLING Article 38(a) of the Convention on the International
Maritime Organization concerning the functions of the Marine Environment
Protection Committee conferred upon it by the international conventions
for the prevention and control of marine pollution,
RECALLING ALSO that the International Conference on Ballast
Water Management for Ships held in February 2004 adopted the International
Convention for the Control and Management of Ships' Ballast Water
and Sediments, 2004 (Ballast Water Management Convention),
MINDFUL of Article 13 of the
Ballast Water Management Convention which provides that in order to
further the objectives of the Convention, Parties with common interests
to protect the environment, human health, property and resources in
a given geographical area, in particular, those Parties bordering
enclosed and semi-enclosed seas, shall endeavour, taking into account
characteristic regional features, to enhance regional co-operation,
including through the conclusion of regional agreements consistent
with the Ballast Water Management Convention,
BEING AWARE of the designation of Antarctica as a Special
Conservation Area and of the measures adopted under the Antarctic
Treaty to protect the Antarctic environment and dependent and associated
ecosystems,
BEING AWARE ALSO of the requirements of Annex II to the
Protocol on Environmental Protection to the Antarctic Treaty regarding
conservation of Antarctic fauna and flora and in particular of the
precautions taken to prevent the introduction of non-native species
to the Antarctic Treaty area,
NOTING that Article 18 of the
Ballast Water Management Convention provides that it shall enter into
force twelve months after the date on which not less than thirty States,
the combined merchant fleets of which constitute not less than thirty-five
percent of the gross tonnage of the world's merchant shipping, have
become Parties to it in accordance with Article
17 of the Convention and noting further that the Ballast Water
Management Convention is yet to enter into force,
CONSCIOUS of the potential for invasive marine organisms
to be transported into, or moved between biologically distinct regions
within the Antarctic Treaty area by ships in their ballast water,
HAVING CONSIDERED the draft Guidelines for ballast water
exchange in the Antarctic Treaty area and the recommendation made
by the Sub-Committee on Bulk Liquids and Gases at its eleventh session,
1 ADOPTS the Guidelines for ballast water exchange
in the Antarctic Treaty area as set out in the annex to this resolution;
2 INVITES Governments to apply the Guidelines
as soon as possible, as an interim measure for all ships entering
Antarctic Treaty area before the Ballast Water Management Convention
comes into force; and
3 AGREES to keep the Guidelines under review.