Abstract
The problem created by invasive non-native species through ships’ ballast water has caused the International Maritime Organization (IMO), through the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention and many countries to develop their own laws to prevent their introduction. One of the most important non-native species in Argentina, the golden mussel (Limnoperna fortunei), causes a significant economic impact on the Plata Basin. Argentina has a great amount of maritime and fluvial ports that receive ships from different regions of the world. Particularly, the San Lorenzo-San Martín Port Complex (here termed SLOR), placed in the terminal portion of the Paraná Basin, receives ocean ships with great loading capacity, which increases the possibility of invasions and the need of an adequate environmental management. This work proposes to estimate the potential vulnerability of SLOR port, in relation with the origin of the ballast water and its volume. For this purpose, an adaptation of the risk assessment model of the GloBallast Program was used. The results suggest that SLOR has important similarities with different fluvial ports of the world, especially in Brazil and China. However the amount of ships coming from the nearest estuary waters, where the diversity of invasive species has major effects, is also important. This article provides the necessary information to conduct the efforts through surveys and enforcement regulations, and could be the foundation for future research using global data that could provide basic information for other fluvial ports with similar features.
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Acknowledgments
Special thanks to the Direccion de Proteccion Ambiental of Prefectura Naval Argentina, for providing support for our research on invasions. Thanks to Prefectura’s local unit at SLOR for providing the ballast water inspection checklists and for their efforts in the daily controls. Special thanks to Lic. Roberto Bó and Dra. Evangelina Schwindt for their suggestion and critical comments for improving this manuscript. Finally, we thank the reviewers for all the indications made to article because they helped the work quality to become better.
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Abelando, M., Bobinac, M. & Fiore, J.C. Assessment of the efficiency of controls to prevent biologic invasions at the San Lorenzo Port, Argentina. Environ Monit Assess 192, 420 (2020). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08359-2
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10661-020-08359-2