Abstract |
This report to Congress provides information collected by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on the types of wastewater discharged from commercial fishing vessels and nonrecreational vessels less than 79 feet in length. The report also provides information on the primary pollutant concentrations in these discharges and the likelihood of any resulting environmental impacts based on rate, frequency, volume, and location discharged. This study was conducted to meet the obligations of EPA under Public Law (P.L.) 110-299 (July 31, 2008). The law provided for a temporary two-year moratorium on National Pollutant Discharge Elimination System (NPDES) permitting of discharges from commercial fishing vessels, regardless of size, and other nonrecreational vessels less than 79 feet long that were subject to the 40 CFR 122.3(a) exclusion. Except for ballast water discharges (evaluated and assessed elsewhere in other Agency reports), discharges from these vessels are not currently covered under the EPAs Vessel General Permit (VGP). During the two-year moratorium, which began July 31, 2008, EPA was required to study the relevant discharges. EPA believes that the results from this study will serve as an objective source of information that Congress can use for statutory decision-making and will provide other readers valuable technical analyses of these vessels incidental discharges. EPA requested public comment on this draft report in March, 2010: this final report incorporates changes made in response to these comments. |