Tag: biofouling

Filter By:

Filter

Ocean acidification changes balance of biofouling communities

A new study of marine organisms that make up the ‘biofouling community’ — tiny creatures that attach themselves to ships’ hulls and rocks in the ocean around the world — shows how they adapt to changing ocean acidification. Reporting in the journal Global Change Biology, the authors examine how these communities may respond to future change. There is overwhelming evidence to suggest the world’s oceans are becoming, and will continue to become more acidic in the future, but there are many questions about how it will affect marine life. The ‘biofouling community’ — consisting of tiny species like sea squirts, hard shell worms and sponges — affects many industries including underwater construction, desalination plants and ship hulls. Removing these organisms (a process called antifouling) is estimated to cost around $22 billion a year globally. For the first experiment of its kind, over 10,000 animals from the highly productive Ria Formosa Lagoon system in Algarve, Portugal were allowed to colonise hard surfaces in six aquarium tanks. In half the tanks, the seawater had the normal acidity for the lagoon (PH 7.9) and the other half were set at an increased acidity of PH 7.7. The conditions represented the IPCC’s prediction for ...

Read more

BIMCO launches survey on biofouling

How current antifouling technologies are performing on various ship types BIMCO has launched a survey to find out the real picture on the methods ship owners and operators are using for the treatment of biofouling, and the performance of the various methods on different ships and over varying time periods.Aron Sørensen, Chief Marine Technical Officer at BIMCO, who is leading the study, said: "We believe there is a lack of collective knowledge on biofouling management and treatment practices in the shipping industry. BIMCO would like to build a clearer picture of practice and performance for biofouling management, and how current antifouling technologies are performing on various ship types. We will use and share the outcome to work on the industry's behalf to highlight any issues of concern. Once analysed, the survey result could form the basis for a BIMCO submission to the International Maritime Organization (IMO)."Biofouling means the attachment or association of marine organisms to the wetted portions of a vessel including sea chests, propellers, anchors, and other niche areas.The International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships (AFS Convention) prohibits the use of listed harmful substances in anti-fouling paints used on ships and establishes a mechanism ...

Read more

Stowaways threaten fisheries in the Arctic

The stowaways can arrive either as biofouling or via water in the ballast tanks An international team of researchers led by PhD candidate Chris Ware from the University of Tromsø in Norway has for the first time been able to calculate the risk of new species establishing themselves in Arctic waters. Specifically, the researchers have investigated the maritime traffic to Svalbard. Chris Ware explains:The survey shows that up to one third of the 155 ships that entered the ports of Svalbard during 2011 came from ports that will in the future have an environmental match with Svalbard, thereby increasing the risk that harmful species, which may be brought in as stowaways on ships, will be able to establish themselves.The stowaways can arrive either as biofouling on the outside of the ships or via water in the ballast tanks.In 2011 ships that called at Svalbard emptied their ballast tanks 31 times, producing a total volume of 653,000 cubic meters, equivalent to more than 261 Olympic-size swimming pools. Considering each cubic metre of ballast water may contain hundreds of thousands of organisms, billions of organisms can be introduced by ships every year. Slightly more than half of the vessels had replaced the ...

Read more
Page 11 of 12 1 10 11 12