The build-up of aquatic organisms on a ship’s underwater hull and structures is known as biofouling. This can introduce potentially invasive non-native aquatic species to a new area. Fouling can also slow down a ship and impact on its energy efficiency. An IMO regional workshop in Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago (20-22 June) aims to provide participants with a greater understanding of the requirements and implications of ratifying, implementing and enforcing the anti-fouling systems (AFS) convention and implementing biofouling guidelines. The AFS convention regulates anti-fouling systems in order to prevent adverse impacts from their use and from the biocides they may contain. The biofouling guidelines focus on how biofouling should be controlled and managed to reduce the transfer of invasive aquatic species.
The workshop, attended by some 45 participants from 13 countries*, is funded through IMO’s technical cooperation fund and is being led by IMO’s Theofanis Karayannis and Megan Jensen. The workshop is a good example of IMO’s role in supporting the targets of the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 14 on the oceans, and in helping to address biodiversity loss, through its shipping regulations and recommendations.
* Antigua and Barbuda, Bahamas, Barbados, Cuba, Dominican Republic, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, Saint Kitts and Nevis, Saint Lucia, Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, Suriname, and Trinidad and Tobago