In 2015 the first edition of this book was published before the Ballast Water Management (BWM) Convention entered into force. To our knowledge this was and still is the first comprehensive book on BWM worldwide. It provided an overview of possible solutions to the complex issue of BWM. It further outlined consequences and implications to address the ballast water "problem" in line with provisions of the BWM Convention considering environmental, shipping, legal and policy perspectives.

The previously addressed subjects remain essential, but new subjects appeared which more recently have proven to be critical for the effective BWM Convention implementation. After the first book content was already agreed and in preparation, new advances were achieved in BWM-related research around the world. Further, new experience was gained and issues came out during the preparation processes of countries for the BWM Convention implementation. The editors of the first book remained heavily involved in BWM-related research and other processes, hence these new critical BWM issues and subjects are now dealt with in the second edition of this book to complement the first one.

In essence, this new book covers main issues that arose recently during the implementation of the BWM Convention. Scientists and experts with extensive experience in these subjects from around the globe from academic and private sectors, as well as national administrations, were involved in the preparation of this book.