High Quality Content by WIKIPEDIA articles! The National Invasive Species Act (NISA) was sponsored by U.S. House Representative Steve LaTourette on 28 September 1996, and it became Public Law No. 104-332 (H.R. 4283) on 26 October 1996. The official purpose, as introduced, is: “To provide for ballast water management to prevent the introduction and spread of non-indigenous species into the waters of the United States, and for other purposes.” It was created to reauthorize and amend a previous measure, the Non-indigenous Aquatic Nuisance Prevention and Control Act of 1990 (NANPCA), and one of its prime focuses is to prevent invasive species from entering the Great Lakes through ballast water. The Federal departments and agencies involved with carrying out NISA are the United States Department of the Interior, Fish and Wildlife Service; Department of Transportation, Coast Guard (the Coast Guard moved to the Department of Homeland Security in 2002); Environmental Protection Agency; United...