Balancing the consequences of in-water cleaning of biofouling to improve ship efficiency and reduce biosecurity risk

Frontiers in Marine Science

Marine Science

Mario N. Tamburri¹  Eugene Georgiades²  Chris Scianni³  Ralitsa Mihaylova⁴ 

[1]Chesapeake Biological Laboratory, University of Maryland Center for Environmental Science, Solomons, MD, United States

[2]Hazardous Substances and New Organisms Group, Environmental Protection Authority, Wellington, New Zealand

[3]Marine Invasive Species Program, California State Lands Commission, Long Beach, CA, United States

[4]Safinah Group, Gateshead, United Kingdom

关键词: ship biofouling;    in-water cleaning;    shipping;    environmental risks;    biosecurity;    impact decoupling;   

DOI  :  10.3389/fmars.2023.1239723

 received in 2023-06-13, accepted in 2023-07-21,  发布年份 2023

来源: Frontiers

【 摘 要 】

Effective environmental policy often involves introducing and maintaining important activities with positive outcomes while minimizing environmental consequences; essentially decoupling a positive activity from its negative impacts. In-water cleaning (IWC) of biofouling from ships’ submerged surfaces is an example of an activity with positive outcomes (e.g., maintaining optimal ship energy efficiency and decreased biosecurity risk) and unintended negative consequences (e.g., release of living organisms, biocides, and microplastics). Several approaches exist to mitigate these negative consequences, including debris capture, with primary and secondary treatment of removed particulate and dissolved materials. However, it is unlikely that these approaches will eliminate environmental risk. Policy makers should be aware of the full suite of risks related to ship IWC and the tradeoffs to consider when balancing mitigation approaches.

【 授权许可】

Unknown   
Copyright © 2023 Scianni, Georgiades, Mihaylova and Tamburri