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Assessment of biofouling guidelines for management of fishing gear and fleet in the northern Persian Gulf to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species

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Abstract

The purpose of this study is to describe fishermen’s and managers’ current awareness of International Maritime Organization (IMO) biofouling guidelines to improve biofouling management on all fishing vessel types in the northern Persian Gulf. A total of 234 in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with fishermen and managers using a random sampling technique from February to November 2021. Analyses of data indicated that the majority of industrial fishermen (87%) and all of managers were aware of the IMO biofouling guidelines, but traditional fishermen had a low level of awareness (38%) and they had also many problems such as increased cost, lack of training courses, lack of sufficient facilities for implementation of IMO biofouling guidelines. For industrial fishermen, literacy was a most effective variable on awareness of IMO guidelines (p ˂ 0.05, r = 1.62). As regulations to prevent invasions and the accumulation of biofouling in fishing gear and fleets, biofouling should be managed and evaluated, and also training should be provided to fishermen to clean the biofouling of fishing gear and fleets in accordance with IMO guidelines, as well as more monitoring by managers, environmentalists, the government, and policymakers.

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Acknowledgements

This work is based upon research funded by the Iran National Science Foundation (INSF) under project No. 4000840, and the authors express their gratitude to the research council of the University of Hormozgan.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Fisheries Department, Faculty of Marine Sciences and Technology, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran

    Saba Ghattavi, Ehsan Kamrani & Moslem Daliri

  2. Research Department of Fisheries management and Sustainable Development of Marine Ecosystem, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, Iran

    Ehsan Kamrani & Moslem Daliri

  3. Department of Marine Biology, Faculty of Marine Science and Technology, University of Hormozgan, Bandar Abbas, P.O. Box 3995, Iran

    Ahmad Homaei

  4. Department of Chemistry, Faculty of Nano and Bio Science and Technology, Persian Gulf University, Bushehr, 75169, Iran

    Dariush Saberi

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  1. Saba Ghattavi
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  2. Ehsan Kamrani
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  3. Ahmad Homaei
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  4. Moslem Daliri
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Correspondence to Ahmad Homaei.

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Ghattavi, S., Kamrani, E., Homaei, A. et al. Assessment of biofouling guidelines for management of fishing gear and fleet in the northern Persian Gulf to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species. Environ Dev Sustain 26, 1135–1149 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10668-022-02752-2

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