• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.9
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• pp.245-252
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• 2016

This study investigated the environmental conditions and planktonic organisms in the ballast waters (BW) of 22 vessels originating from the international ports of Japan for the purpose of negotiating exemptions from the Ballast Water Management Convention (BWM Convention). The shortest duration of the BW was $3.33{\pm}1.87days$ in area "A", which included Kyushu and Suo Nada at Seto Inland. The total suspended solids, dissolved organic carbon, and particulate organic carbon ranged from 4.60 to 60.9 mg L-1, from 0.97 to 2.69 mg L-1, and from 0.24 to 4.51 mg L-1, respectively. A low average concentration of nutrients was measured in the BW from area "A", but that in the BW from area "C" (around central Honshu) was high, which may be related to the ballasting periods. High chlorophyll-a concentrations (>$1{\mu}g\;L-1$) were measured in four vessels, three of which carried the BW in area "A". High abundances of phytoplankton (> 50,000 cells L-1) were measured in four vessels, three of which carried the BW in area "A". The two vessels originating from Tokyuyama Bay in area "A" showed high densities of dinoflagellates, which are known to be harmful algae. Our results suggest that the negotiations for an exemption from the BWM Convention for Japan should proceed with caution.

• Journal of the Korea Academia-Industrial cooperation Society
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• v.17 no.4
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• pp.34-42
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• 2016

In order to prepare for the type approval test for the United States Coast Guard (USCG) Phase-II of Ballast Water Treatment System (BWTS), a phytoplankton mass culture was conducted in a mesocosm enclosure. We evaluated the response of the phytoplankton community after nutrient addition (+N, +P, and +NP) and investigated the development of the species with increasing culture time. After nutrient dosing, the phytoplankton population significantly (p < 0.05) increased from day 1 to day 3, depending on the nutrient treatments In particular, the specific growth rate of the phytoplankton community in the case of +NP treatment and + N treatment were estimated to be $2.47d^{-1}$ and $1.98d^{-1}$, respectively. The phytoplankton population density in the case of + NP treatment was approximately 50 times higher than that of the control group, suggesting that these treatments could be useful for mass culturing phytoplankton (> 75% of natural community) for the approval regulation of USCG Phase-II. In the phytoplankton community of the mesocosm, Pseudo-nitzchia spp. dominated in the logarithmic growth phase. The cell density decreased significantly (p < 0.05) with increasing time, coinciding with the nutrient limitation. At that time, the dominance of Pseudo-nitzchia spp. shifted to that of Cylindrotheca closterium. Therefore, the optimum nutrient concentration ($N:30{\mu}M$, $P:3{\mu}M$) and reasonable harvesting time (after 3 days in summer) found in this study for the mass culturing of phytoplankton may be helpful to meet the USCG Phase-II biological criteria to be used in BWTS.