End of Year Newsletter

2020 was a year full of challenges, however, GloFouling Partnerships have persevered and managed to achieve its goals after adapting to the new virtual working modalities. Below is an outline of our achievements and ongoing initiatives since our last update in July 2020, and some of the overall highlights of 2020.

Due to the COVID pandemic, the Project Coordination Unit had to adapt all the activities to online delivery. Therefore, the Training course on Biofouling Management was developed for online delivery incorporating a wide range of interactive features. The first country to take advantage of this training was the Philippines. The course took place from 14 to 17 December with the participation of over 50 people.

More information >

Recreational Boating

We call all recreational boat users and owners to participate in this short survey (available in English, French, Spanish and Arabic). Taking part in this survey will help us learn about current practices used by owners and users of recreational boats for preventing and managing biofouling on the hulls of their boats. The aim of this initiative is to identify better and more economically efficient tools for all boaters to prevent biofouling.

For additional information on recreational boating see the 'Recreational Craft: Preserving Biodiversity and the Asset' document, released by Safinah Group.

Global Industry Alliance (GIA) for Marine Biosafety

After The Global Industry Alliance (GIA) for Marine Biosafety was officially inaugurated in the month of June. Since then, three additional members have joined this initiative:

• DHI Water and Environment (News item);
• Hapag-Lloyd AG (News item); and
• Tas Global Co. Ltd (News item);

The GIA Task Force (GIA-TF) held its first meeting on 26 October, where Mr. Darren R. Jones, Director of Sonihull was elected as chair for the first year (News item).

For a more comprehensive introduction to the GIA watch the recordings of the webinars (click on the images below).

GESAMP WG 44

The Working Group 44* on Biofouling Management was created in 2019 and held its first meeting on 19-21 October. The aim of this GESAMP group is to develop a comprehensive study on the impact on the marine environment of invasive aquatic species transported through biofouling. The report will contribute to a better understanding of the role played by the different ocean industries as pathways and how they are also affected.

More information >

*The Joint Group of experts on the Scientific Aspects of Marine Environmental Protection (GESAMP) Working Group 44

Strategic Partners

Strategic partnership is open to international organizations and institutions, developed countries, international industry associations, research centres, universities and international NGOs that are willing to provide input, technical and scientific expertise and to support project activities, participate in R&D forums, expert workshops and other meetings. 

Since July two new Strategic Partners have joined the project:

• Korea Research Institute of Ships & Ocean engineering (KRISO); and
• World Aquaculture Society (WAS).

See the full list of the strategic partners >

E-mail us to if you wish to join too. 

Publications

The following publications are now available on our website to read and download:

• Global Project Task Force (GPTF) 1st Meeting, Inception report; and
• 1st GEF-UNDP-IMO GloFouling R&D Forum and Exhibition on Biofouling Management and 4th ANZPAC Workshop on Biofouling Management for Sustainable Shipping​, Proceedings

Webinars

The Project launched the webinar series in January and has carried out twelve webinars on a wide range of subjects related to biofouling and/or invasive aquatic species. All past webinars are available on demand, click on each topic to learn more about the webinar and watch the recording:

• Biofouling management in New Zealand salmon farms: challenges and directions
• An update on the review of the Biofouling Guidelines
• Risk of dissemination of the nonindigenous Orange cup coral from ship hulls and oil/gas platforms in the South West Atlantic
• Ecological engineering of marine infrastructure for biosecurity
• Effect of biofouling on ship performance and energy efficiency
• Vessel-Check: an aquatic biosecurity risk assessment tool

• Managing corrosion and biofouling of the offshore monopile supports for wind turbines

• Lessons learned through implementing and enforcing California’s biofouling management regulations (also available in Spanish - below)

• Normativa para la gestión de bioincrustaciones marinas. La experiencia del Estado de California (also available in English - above)

• Monitoring biofouling in the offshore renewable energy industry

• The role of biofouling in recreational sailing, yachting and marinas as a pathway for non-indigenous species

• Impacts of biofouling in marine aquaculture

Do you have a query? Not a problem!

E-mail us at: glofouling@imo.org

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