Introduction
NBIC has been receiving ballast water reporting forms from ships that arrive to U.S. ports from overseas since July 1, 1999. Federal law (National Invasive Species Act of 1996, P.L. 104-332) mandates that all such arriving ships complete and submit a ballast water information report to NBIC. Ballast Water forms are available in a number of formats. These data have been summarized in annual and biennial reports to the United States Coast Guard.
In an effort to make ballast water data available to state and federal entities, and the public, NBIC has developed an online database that can be queried on the World Wide Web. Data are accessible for all coastal states on a state-by-state basis. Note that inland ports and waterways, including those of the Great Lakes, are only incorporated in the NBIC database as of August 2004. Information on data availability from earlier Great Lakes arrivals can be requested by contacting the U.S. Coast Guard at (202) 267-4618.
Acknowledgement
Access to the data is given with the understanding that the data or analyses derived from the data will not be reproduced in any form without acknowledging the National Ballast Information Clearinghouse as the source. These conditions are specified in a data use statement. Users are required to agree to these conditions in advance of downloading data from the site.
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