Qatar has become the latest state to sign up to the International Maritime Organization’s (IMO) Ballast Water Management Convention, the treaty helping to protect the marine environment.
A total of sixty-eight signatories now represent more than 75% of the world’s merchant fleet tonnage.
On February 8, 2018, Yousef Ali Al-Khater, Ambassador of Qatar to the United Kingdom, met IMO Secretary-General Kitack Lim at IMO Headquarters, London to deposit the instrument of accession.
BWMC entered into force five months ago. Under the treaty, ships are required to manage their ballast water, which can contain thousands of aquatic or marine microbes, plants and organisms, which are then carried across the globe.