The GloFouling Partnerships project – a collaboration between the Global Environment Facility (GEF), the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Maritime Organization (IMO) – is a new international program set in place to review and recommend regulations to lessen the transfer of invasive organisms that contaminate pipes and other underwater surfaces.
According to the IMO press release, “The GloFouling project will drive actions to implement the IMO Guidelines for the control and management of ships’ biofouling, which provide a globally-consistent approach on how biofouling should be controlled and managed to minimize the transfer of invasive aquatic species through ships’ hulls.”
Armed with a USD $6.9 million grant from GEF, 12 countries will start the discussions within the GloFouling committees: Brazil, Ecuador, Fiji, Indonesia, Jordan, Madagascar, Mauritius, Mexico, Peru, the Philippines, Sri Lanka and Tonga. To read the complete press release go to http://www.imo.org/en/MediaCentre/PressBriefings/Pages/21-glofouling.aspx
