public comment at the great lakes meeting by Frederick J. Kenney, U.S. Department of State

Statement of Frederick J. Kenney, U.S. Department of State before The U.S. Commission on Ocean Policy September 25, 2002 Mr. Chairman, Distinguished Commissioners. I’m Fred Kenney, Coast Guard Liaison Officer to the Office of Oceans Affairs at the U.S. Department of State. I’m also a member of the U.S. Delegation to the IMO’s Marine Environment Protection Committee and its Ballast Water Working Group. The purpose of my statement today is to provide some amplifying and updated information on the status of the ballast water negotiations at IMO, to clarify the responses to a question posed by Commissioner Koch this morning. Since 1997 IMO has been actively engaged in the development of a globally applicable instrument to control the spread of aquatic nuisance species from discharges of ships ballast water and sediments. A diplomatic conference to conclude this treaty is tentatively scheduled for November 2003. The IMO has only “tentatively” scheduled the diplomatic conference in recognition that there are still significant issues to be resolved before such a Conference can be successfully concluded. That said, progress has been made. A largely complete convention text has been drafted, using a base text developed by the United States. A number of issues have already been resolved. However, the two key issues central to finalization of the instrument are still being negotiated. Very briefly, the draft treaty has two substantive ...