Invasive species in the Mediterranean? Blame (also) the sailboats
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A monumental study conducted by the University of Pavia on biofouling (the fouling of organic origin on hulls and parts immersed in water) leaves no room for doubt. The invasion of exotic marine species, which endanger the Mediterranean Sea ecosystem, is also the fault of yachts and sailboats.
HOW THE INVASION TAKES PLACE
What’s going on? It all starts with commercial shipping: large ships arrive in the Mare Nostrum, in international ports, with their cargo of seaweed and animals from distant oceans, brought into our seas and ports from ships’ ballast water, private aquariums or aquaculture facilities importing Asian shellfish for farming and consumption.
In the aforementioned harbors, such “alien” organisms encrust the keels of sailboats and recreational yachts: these move from one marina to another allowing the otherwise very hardy “intruders” to travel long distances and to settle in new environments (often going to replace local species). Here, then, the busiest marinas become veritable “melting pots” of invasive species, which recreational traffic helps spread from one site to another.
And that’s not all: according to the study, some tourist marinas abound more than expected in alien species (from North America, Japan, Galapagos…), often different from those found in ports, and in comparable numbers to those found in large harbors. This means that sailboats and yachts from outside the Mediterranean, which flock to our shores in the summer, are themselves vectors for the introduction and dispersal of marine alien species.
The study was carried out by a team of female researchers from the University of Pavia, members of the Italian Society of Marine Biology: in 2017, the team analyzed organisms fouling the harbor docks of five large ports along the Ligurian, Tuscan, and Sardinian coasts (Genoa, La Spezia, Livorno, Olbia, and Porto Torres) and five marinas near each of them (Santa Margherita Ligure, Lerici, Viareggio, Porto Rotondo, and Castelsardo).
Then there is another study published in the Journal of Applied Ecology, where the keels of 600 pleasure boats in various ports in the Mediterranean were analyzed for marine species of alien origin. Seventy percent of the keels featured at least one alien species!
WHAT WE CAN DO
What specifically can we do? First of all, try to use quality antifouling paints (avoiding going cheap with “gun” products) and, when possible, go down to the water, offshore (since such species often do not survive, free, in the open sea), to clean the hull.
Think about the fact that in some countries it is forbidden to enter a port with the hull encrusted with organisms (this happens in Australia and New Zealand), while in Europe there is no such legislation so far.
HERE the first study cited
HERE the second study cited
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