How sailors can help tackle biofouling
While yachts are unlikely to introduce invasive species from abroad, they can help them spread around the coast. Sarah Brown explains
Invasive species are one of the leading threats to biodiversity across the globe. Hundreds of marine species are marching across UK shores and seabeds, hitching lifts on our hulls and kit, and generally making a thorough nuisance of themselves. Some of these invasive species pose a real threat to our enjoyment of sailing, the worst one (at the moment) seems to be Didemnum Vexillum. A leathery carpet seasquirt which can grow rapidly, smothering everything it grows over, whether that is a mussel bed, an oyster bed, your prop, hull or water intake.
The Marine Equipment Trade Show (METS) went online this year with a number of interesting sessions from experts in the sector from across the EU and beyond. An active boater and marine biosecurity advisor, I was intrigued to attend the biofouling session with luminaries from world leaders such as Hempel, ICOMIA, World Sailing and the Glofouling project.
From the METS presentations we learned that it has been a difficult time for antifouling manufacturers with changes to regulations meaning a shifting baseline. I have some sympathy for their difficulties, but as a sailor whose movements could be limited by biosecurity concerns, I am frustrated that it has taken this long to get it right. It is indeed a contradiction: we want to protect the environment and limit the number and amount of harmful chemicals we put into the water, but then we also need to kill off these invasive species and stop recreational boats from being a vehicle to transport them from A to B.
In my biosecurity planning work I do get cross-examined by sailors. The first question is usually something like, ‘Why should we bother when we didn’t introduce them in the first place?’ It is true, most marine invasive non-native species (INNS) probably didn’t arrive from the other side of the world on a 38ft cruiser. Evidence suggests it is not recreational sailors who introduce these new species to the UK. We do, however, spread