Global approach and regional cooperation of Black Sea countries on the problem of invasive species

The productivity of water ecosystems plays a significant role in the development of human society. People delimitate oceans and the seas, however, ocean creatures are not familiar with those boundaries exist for them. They freely “travel” all over the world in and on ships, invade new ecosystems and harm them. Invasive alien species are now globally recognized as one of the biggest problems in shipping, which impacts environment, social economics and human health. Due to the international nature of shipping, it is positively to eliminate the problem of invasive species, but only to find the most efficient ways of controlling the situation. Efficient control is impossible at the national level only, that is why the co-operation at the international level is so important here. Therefore, the International Convention for the Control and Management of Ships’ Ballast Water and Sediments (Ballast Water Management Convention) was adopted in 2004 and is expected to enter into force in the nearest future. It still causes a lot of discussions from the stakeholders. The Black Sea is a very vulnerable water ecosystem due to its nature, and it suffered big losses a lot by the invasive alien species, especially last in two decades. The purpose of this dissertation is to study the current state of the problem of Aquatic Invasive Species in the Black Sea Region, and to assess the effectiveness of cooperation in the region. During the research, some major challenges were identified, and some recommendations were given as per more effective actions towards the solution of the problem