The Great Lakes United coalition applauds efforts to amend the Shipping Act to better protect waters of the Great Lakes, St. Lawrence River, and the nation. We stress that such action has been strongly supported by the federal government in the “Government Response to the 4th Report of the Standing Committee on Fisheries and Oceans- Aquatic Invasive Species: Uninvited Guests”. In this response,
the government expressed support for the committee recommendation “that as a matter of priority, standards for the treatment of ballast water be developed, implemented and fully enforced” (Recommendation 6). We encourage the government to demonstrate support by immediately amending, implementing and enforcing changes to the Shipping Act that significantly increase protection of national waters from the ecologically and economically devastating impacts of aquatic invasive species originating from the ballast tanks.