According to the IMO, marine biodiversity is in danger of invasive aquatic species (IAS), which harm the world’s freshwater, coastal and marine’s native ecosystems, a challenge that led to the launch of GloFouling Partnerships project; Thus, taking part in the project, Indonesia and Mexico have formed their national task force.
The project was launched back in March, 2019 and aimed to finding solutions to this intense matter by reducing the transfer of those harmful aquatic species on ship’s hulls.The plan has already passed two serious milestones, as another two countries, Indonesia and Mexico joined in the initiative and formed their national task forces to follow.
During October 2019, IMO led workshops in both of the countries in order to discuss the technical factors of this issue and their ability to engage with GloFouling. As a result, the workshop gathered key shipping stakeholders, including the national maritime and environmental authorities, industry representatives, universities, academics and research institutions.
The workshops also involved surveys of the threats posed by invasive species and biofouling and analyzed already existing regulatory frameworks and the essential elements for developing national policies.
In the meantime, twelve countries are prepared and have established their national task forces to spearhead the work of the GloFouling Project, as Lead Partnering Countries (LPCs): Brazil, Ecuador, Fiji, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tonga.
Concluding, GloFouling’s Partnerships in Mexico and Indonesia forward plans include developing national baseline reports to assess the present situation with regard to non-indigenous species. Currently-available investigation on the subject will be identified and the economic impacts determined, leading to informed policy decision-making.
