GloFouling project kicks off to protect marine biodiversity

A major five-year project to help protect marine biodiversity has been kick-started at a global workshop at IMO Headquarters in London, United Kingdom (18-20 March).

The IMO-executed GloFouling Partnerships project will address bioinvasions by organisms which can build up on ships’ hulls and other marine structures. The project is a collaboration between the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and IMO. Representatives from 12 lead partnering countries, four regional organizations, IOC-UNESCO, the World Ocean Council and numerous strategic partners attended its first Global Project Task Force meeting for the GloFouling Partnerships project.

[…]

National administrations and regional IGOs will work with the project to analyse their needs and develop baseline and economic assessments that will help decision makers draft new policies or action plans to implement the Biofouling Guidelines issued by the International Maritime Organization (IMO) in 2011. To support this process, the project will manage demonstration sites, provide institutional capacity building and develop awareness-raising campaigns geared to all relevant maritime industries, including recreational boating. 

The introduction of invasive aquatic organisms into new marine environments not only affects biodiversity and ecosystem health, but also has measurable adverse effects on a number of economic sectors such as fisheries, aquaculture and ocean energy. Addressing invasive aquatic species is not only a matter of ensuring the health and integrity of marine ecosystems, but ultimately about safeguarding ecosystem services that sustain the livelihoods of coastal communities across the globe. The GloFouling project will help meet a number of UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGS), including SDG 14 on the oceans.

[...]

The full article can be found here at imo.org

The Bundesamt für Seeschifffahrt und Hydrographie (BSH) is a strategical partner of the project GloFouling. More information (DE) can be found at bsh.de