Great Lakes: Ballast Water Reporting Regs

The US Coast Guard issued a Notice attempting to clarify the ballast water reporting requirements for foreign-flag vessels bound for the Great Lakes from outside the US exclusive economic zone (EEZ). The Notice points out that the reporting requirement may be met either by submitting a properly completed Coast Guard Ballast Water Reporting Form to the USCG or by submitting a St. Lawrence Seaway “Pre-entry Information from Foreign Flagged Vessels Form” to the St. Lawrence Seaway. If the latter form is utilized, then (in order to comply with the USCG reporting requirements) it must be annotated with the additional information required by the Coast Guard form. Comment: It seems to me that, until the Coast Guard and the St. Lawrence Seaway get on the same page, masters of foreign (neither US nor Canadian) ships planning to enter the St. Lawrence Seaway would be well advised to submit both forms. 71 Fed. Reg. 19742 (April 17, 2006).