The Director General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Dakuku Peterside, has made a call to the Nigerian maritime industry to take action in protecting the marine environment from alien species that are entering Nigeria’s territorial waters through ballast water from ships.
During the meeting of the members of the National Task Force for the Implementation of the Ballast Water Management Convention 2004, held in Lagos, Nigeria, Peterside reiterated NIMASA’s commitment towards sustainability and protecting the marine environment from shipping activities. He called upon stakeholders to be mindful of activities that contribute to environmental degradation.
He stated that although ballast water is required for stability, the water and sediments has become a platform for conveyance of alien invasive species and needs to be tackled immediately before it is too late and becomes uncontrollable.
Dr Peterside stated: “the long years of exploitation and exploration of available resources in our marine environment has made it fragile but we have a responsibility of ensuring that the environment remains sustainable for the generations yet unborn”.
He continued: “NIMASA is therefore committed to ensuring that the Ballast Water Management Convention 2004 is implemented in Nigeria”.
During the meeting, Peterside suggested that the NIMASA members should develop a policy and workplan to implement the Ballast Water Management Roadmap for the Ballast Water Movement in Nigeria to help protect the marine environment from the long-term impacts of species transfer and invasion.
Nigeria became one of the first eight countries to adopt the Ballast Water Management Convention in 2004 and is the 14th leading country in the Global Environment Facility (GEF) United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) International Maritime Organization (IMO) GloBallast partnership that was set up by the IMO to give technical support to Member States on the implementation of the Convention.
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