NBIC Public Data Portal: Shipping and Invasions Dynamics

In addition to collecting and analyzing data on ship arrivals, ballast water delivery, and ballast water management, the NBIC and broader Marine Invasions Research laboratory conducts field research such as sampling ballast water tanks for zooplankton and phytoplankton, collecting samples from ships' hulls, and yearly port surveys of marine, estuarine, and aquatic species. This research allows the NBIC program, SERC scientists, and US Coast Guard to document, understand, and characterize patterns of marine invasions across space, time, and taxonomic groups, help predict the establishment, spread, and impact of non-indigenous species in marine ecosystems, evaluate the efficacy of ballast water management and species control strategies to limit their establishment and impact, and better inform state and federal agencies about the state of invasive species in US waters. The NBIC ballast water management data are available to the public through a searchable online database, while the life history and locations of marine and estuarine non-indigenous species in the United States and other countries are available through the Smithsonian's NEMESIS database, which draws from the NBIC and Marine Invasion laboratory field research as well as from an extensive literature library.

Note: All data available in graphs and tables extend through the last complete month and are refreshed monthly. Because ballast water management reports may be amended, corrected or changed during quality control processes, particularly within the 20 days from arrival date for the last complete month, this may result in updates that will register when the data are next refreshed. All data are subject to change and use of any of the NBIC data implies agreement with the NBIC Data Use Agreement policy. Cite our data.

This section presents cumulative annual data from the Smithsonian's NEMESIS database and from the USGS Nonindigenous Aquatic Species database on the introduction of Non-indigenous Species (NIS) invertebrates and algae (excluding fishes and plants) into US waters from 1990 to present day. These data are presented at the national scale and regionally to and examine the possible vector(s) of introduction as they relate to commercial shipping.

At the national scale, commercial shipping vectors such as ballast water, hull fouling, or the combination of both, are possible vectors for ~74% of US marine and estuarine NIS introductions based on their biology and invasion history. Similarly, within each region NIS introductions are highly associated with commercial shipping and follow similar patterns, even if the actual numbers of NIS species differ. For many NIS introductions, their life histories enable them to be possibly transported by multiple shipping associated vectors. For instance, an organism like the striped barnacle has a larval life stage that is easily transported as zooplankton taken up inside ballast tanks, whereas adults can cling to the hull of a vessel as it moves throughout the oceans. Other methods of NIS introduction include aquarium and pet trades, fisheries, mariculture activities, live bait trade, nursery trades in wetland species, and recreational vessels. For some species, such as the green crab, these vectors are an additional possible method of transport besides ballast water and hull fouling.

Click on 'Chart Directions' below for instructions on how to read the graphs and use the legends.

Chart Directions

These interactive figures present the cumulative number of NIS introduced into the United States by shipping vector or combination of vectors annually from 1990 through the present day. There are 4 charts; the 'National' chart represents all data for all continental US regions, while the remaining 3 display data for each marine and estuarine coastal region (East, Gulf, and West) from the Smithonian's NEMESIS database. To tailor your query and figure, you may select or deselect the possible vector categories in the interactive legends underneath each chart. These categories include:

BW=Ballast Water only
HF=Hull Fouling only
BW+HF=Ballast Water and Hull Fouling possible
Other=Other non-shipping vectors only
BW+Other=Ballast Water and Other vectors possible
HF+Other=Hull Fouling and Other vectors possible
BW+HF+Other=Ballast Water, Hull Fouling, and Other vectors all possible

To determine the role of each vector, you must make multiple selections.

To examine the number of species likely introduced by ballast water, select all categories that include "BW" in the legend and deselect any categories that do not include "BW." This will show the total number of species that could have been transported by ballast water over time.
To investigate the number of species likely introduced by hull fouling, select all categories that include "HF" and deselect any category that does not include "HF." This will show the total number of species that could have been transported by hull fouling over time.
To examine all species likely introduced by commercial shipping in general, the six categories that have "BW" and/or "HF" within must be selected, and only the "Other" category is deselected.

You can zoom and pan interactively in the figure. To select a range in the number of species in the chart, hold down the left mouse button and drag the arrow up and down the graph. The figure and data can be exported using the 'Export Chart' menu in the upper right corner of the figure. Below the figures is a data table that can be exported in different formats for all data used in these figures.

NIS Vector Data Table

The full dataset for NIS and Shipping Vectors is available in this table. You may download the table by clicking on the formats at the top right of the table.

Non-indigenous Species: Vectors and Regions

Year	Region	BW Only	BW+HF	HF Only	BW+Other	HF+Other	BW+HF+Other	Other
1990	East Coast	3	24	27	12	10	9	37
1991	East Coast	3	24	28	12	10	10	39
1992	East Coast	3	25	28	13	10	10	41
1993	East Coast	3	25	28	13	10	10	41
1994	East Coast	3	26	29	13	10	10	41
1995	East Coast	3	28	30	14	10	11	41
1996	East Coast	3	32	30	14	10	11	42
1997	East Coast	3	33	30	14	10	11	42
1998	East Coast	3	36	30	14	10	12	43
1999	East Coast	3	39	30	15	10	12	44
2000	East Coast	3	39	32	15	10	12	49
2001	East Coast	4	41	33	15	10	13	49
2002	East Coast	4	44	34	15	10	14	50
2003	East Coast	4	45	34	15	10	15	51
2004	East Coast	4	45	37	16	10	15	51
2005	East Coast	4	46	37	16	10	16	51
2006	East Coast	4	47	37	16	10	16	52
2007	East Coast	4	49	37	17	10	16	53
2008	East Coast	4	49	37	18	10	16	53
2009	East Coast	4	50	38	18	10	17	55
2010	East Coast	5	50	40	18	10	17	55
2011	East Coast	5	51	40	18	10	17	55
2012	East Coast	5	51	40	18	10	17	55
2013	East Coast	6	54	41	18	10	17	55
2014	East Coast	7	54	41	18	10	17	55
2015	East Coast	7	54	41	18	10	17	56
2016	East Coast	7	54	41	18	10	17	56
2017	East Coast	7	56	41	18	10	17	56
2018	East Coast	7	56	42	18	10	17	57
2019	East Coast	7	57	42	18	10	17	57
2020	East Coast	7	57	42	18	10	17	57
2021	East Coast	7	57	42	18	10	17	57
2022	East Coast	7	57	42	18	10	17	57
2023	East Coast	7	57	42	18	10	17	57
1990	Gulf Coast	3	15	11	3	5	2	14
1991	Gulf Coast	3	15	12	3	5	2	14
1992	Gulf Coast	3	16	12	3	5	2	14
1993	Gulf Coast	3	18	12	3	5	2	15
1994	Gulf Coast	3	18	12	4	5	2	16
1995	Gulf Coast	3	18	12	5	5	2	16
1996	Gulf Coast	3	20	12	5	5	2	19
1997	Gulf Coast	3	22	12	5	5	2	19
1998	Gulf Coast	3	22	12	5	5	2	19
1999	Gulf Coast	3	25	13	5	5	3	19
2000	Gulf Coast	3	25	14	5	5	3	19
2001	Gulf Coast	3	25	14	5	5	4	19
2002	Gulf Coast	3	26	15	5	5	4	19
2003	Gulf Coast	3	26	15	6	5	5	19
2004	Gulf Coast	3	30	16	6	5	5	20
2005	Gulf Coast	3	31	16	6	5	5	20
2006	Gulf Coast	3	34	17	6	5	5	21
2007	Gulf Coast	3	34	17	6	5	5	21
2008	Gulf Coast	3	34	17	6	5	5	21
2009	Gulf Coast	3	34	17	6	5	6	21
2010	Gulf Coast	3	34	17	6	5	6	21
2011	Gulf Coast	3	34	17	6	5	6	21
2012	Gulf Coast	3	35	17	6	5	6	21
2013	Gulf Coast	3	35	17	6	5	6	21
2014	Gulf Coast	3	35	18	6	5	6	21
2015	Gulf Coast	4	35	18	6	5	7	21
2016	Gulf Coast	4	35	18	6	5	7	22
2017	Gulf Coast	4	36	18	6	5	7	22
2018	Gulf Coast	4	37	18	6	5	7	22
2019	Gulf Coast	4	38	18	6	5	7	22
2020	Gulf Coast	4	38	18	6	5	7	22
2021	Gulf Coast	4	38	18	6	5	7	22
2022	Gulf Coast	4	38	18	6	5	7	22
2023	Gulf Coast	4	38	18	6	5	7	22
1990	West Coast	15	19	21	18	34	56	61
1991	West Coast	17	20	22	18	34	57	61
1992	West Coast	20	20	22	19	34	57	61
1993	West Coast	24	22	22	19	36	59	63
1994	West Coast	24	22	22	19	39	59	64
1995	West Coast	25	22	22	21	40	60	64
1996	West Coast	26	23	22	21	40	60	64
1997	West Coast	27	24	22	23	41	60	69
1998	West Coast	27	26	22	23	41	61	70
1999	West Coast	27	27	22	24	41	61	71
2000	West Coast	27	30	23	25	44	64	71
2001	West Coast	28	35	25	26	44	64	71
2002	West Coast	28	35	25	28	44	64	71
2003	West Coast	28	37	26	28	45	64	78
2004	West Coast	30	39	28	28	45	64	78
2005	West Coast	30	39	28	30	45	64	78
2006	West Coast	30	40	28	30	45	64	78
2007	West Coast	30	40	28	31	46	65	78
2008	West Coast	30	40	30	32	46	65	78
2009	West Coast	30	41	30	33	46	66	78
2010	West Coast	30	42	30	33	46	67	78
2011	West Coast	30	42	31	33	47	68	78
2012	West Coast	30	42	32	33	48	68	79
2013	West Coast	30	42	33	33	49	68	79
2014	West Coast	30	42	33	33	49	68	79
2015	West Coast	30	43	33	33	49	68	79
2016	West Coast	30	44	34	33	49	68	80
2017	West Coast	30	44	35	33	49	68	81
2018	West Coast	31	44	36	33	49	68	81
2019	West Coast	31	44	36	33	49	68	81
2020	West Coast	31	44	36	33	49	68	81
2021	West Coast	31	44	36	33	49	68	81
2022	West Coast	31	44	36	33	49	68	81
2023	West Coast	31	44	36	33	49	68	81
1990	All Coasts	18	42	41	28	38	59	91
1991	All Coasts	20	43	43	28	38	61	93
1992	All Coasts	23	44	43	30	38	61	95
1993	All Coasts	27	46	43	30	39	63	97
1994	All Coasts	27	47	43	31	41	63	99
1995	All Coasts	28	48	44	34	42	65	99
1996	All Coasts	29	52	44	34	42	65	102
1997	All Coasts	30	54	44	36	43	65	104
1998	All Coasts	30	57	44	36	43	66	106
1999	All Coasts	30	61	45	36	43	67	108
2000	All Coasts	30	64	48	37	46	70	113
2001	All Coasts	31	70	51	38	46	71	113
2002	All Coasts	31	72	52	40	46	71	114
2003	All Coasts	31	75	53	40	47	72	121
2004	All Coasts	32	80	56	41	47	72	121
2005	All Coasts	32	80	56	43	47	73	121
2006	All Coasts	32	83	57	43	47	73	122
2007	All Coasts	32	85	57	44	48	74	122
2008	All Coasts	32	85	58	46	48	74	122
2009	All Coasts	32	87	59	47	48	76	123
2010	All Coasts	33	87	61	47	48	77	123
2011	All Coasts	33	88	62	47	49	78	123
2012	All Coasts	33	89	63	47	50	78	124
2013	All Coasts	34	89	65	47	51	78	124
2014	All Coasts	34	89	66	47	51	78	124
2015	All Coasts	34	90	66	47	51	79	125
2016	All Coasts	34	91	67	47	51	79	127
2017	All Coasts	34	93	68	47	51	79	128
2018	All Coasts	35	93	69	47	51	79	129
2019	All Coasts	35	93	69	47	51	79	129
2020	All Coasts	35	93	69	47	51	79	129
2021	All Coasts	35	93	69	47	51	79	129
2022	All Coasts	35	93	69	47	51	79	129
2023	All Coasts	35	93	69	47	51	79	129

Chart Directions

Cumulative number of NIS introduced into US waters over time by region: National (All Coasts), US East, Gulf, and West Coasts

NIS Vector Data Table