4.1 Emergency planning should be undertaken at
the appropriate level for the country concerned, based on the risks
faced from the introduction of harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens
through ballast water. The appropriate level should be defined by
the specific nature of the threat and can be at a national level,
or if the threat is justified, at a bioregional, regional, estuary
or port level. Alternatively, it could be undertaken on a regional
seas level, in conjunction with other Member States. However, a sustainable
balance between environmental protection and the social and economic
impacts from delays or interruptions to port and ship operations,
needs to be obtained.
4.2 Such planning should result in the formation
of an Emergency Response Plan based upon identified scenarios. Such
scenarios should be provided by undertaking a risk assessment to identify
problems that are likely to occur. The size and content of such a
Plan should be appropriate to provide a robust response to the high
risk problems identified. By adopting this approach, a Member State
can identify how to implement rapidly appropriate mitigation measures
and establish preventative procedures, allocate resources, and conduct
training. Provision of such resources should be based upon the appropriate
risk, and be focused on mitigating any high risk scenarios. In practice,
such measures are likely to be very simple and may only be identifiable
for situations where ballast water discharges from certain vessels
need to be prevented. The Party may also wish to broaden the scope
of the Plan to cover other potential vectors for harmful aquatic organisms
and pathogens, such as bio-fouling or accidental release of aquarium
species.
4.3 In order to identify the most appropriate
means of reducing the immediate threats represented by the emergency
and to limit the longer-term consequences it may cause, an understanding
of the threat is critical. The process of identifying and applying
the most appropriate response must reflect the nature of the potential
incident and its likely occurrence. Planning any response should include:
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identification of the
potential source(s) of introduction and emergencies that could
occur;
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calculation of the risk
that these potential emergency scenarios may occur;
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identification of the
impact of each potential scenario, beginning with the emergency that is most
likely to occur. This should include the impacts on human health issues,
proliferation of diseases and epidemics, damage to biodiversity and economic
risk;
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identification of
mitigation measures to reduce these risks should they arise;
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identification of
measures to be implemented to mitigate an emergency situation, with
appropriate coordination and clear identification of responsibilities for
actions;
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identification of process
to determine limits of the affected area; and
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identification of the
responsible parties, including the lead agency, communication links,
resources and information that will facilitate this decision making process
and the resulting emergency operations.
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It should be noted that information
and data collection will be an integral part of each of these stages.
This could be provided by, amongst others, existing physical, biological
and chemical datasets of the environment; local knowledge (especially
from fishermen and local boat operators); existing biological, physical
and public health prediction programme/models; knowledge of vectors
(such as shipping, fishing vessels, and recreational vessels) that
could transfer harmful aquatic organisms and pathogens; and, expertise
from third parties and other Parties to the Convention.