POLICY BRIEF article
Front. Mar. Sci.
Sec. Marine Affairs and Policy
Debris Capture During In-Water Cleaning of Ship Biofouling
Provisionally accepted
- 1Center for Environmental Science, University of Maryland, College Park, Cambridge, United States
- 2California State Lands Commission, Sacramento, United States
- 3New Zealand Environmental Protection Authority, Wellington, New Zealand
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Ship biofouling interferes with vessel operations and spreads non-indigenous species. While in-water cleaning (IWC) with debris capture is increasingly promoted as a management strategy, key elements remain poorly defined, including which materials must be collected, an acceptable level of capture, and how capture can be quantified. Although the processing efficacy of collected debris can be assessed, because IWC occurs in an open, dynamic system, measurement of overall capture efficiency is not feasible. Thus, ambiguous 'capture' requirements risk inconsistent performance, unnecessary costs, and barriers to innovation. Instead, regulations should emphasize measurable outcomes (e.g., acceptable levels of change in water quality indicators) rather than mandating specific methods. This outcome-based approach would better ensure that IWC supports ship operational efficiency while minimizing biosecurity and environmental contamination risks.
Keywords: Ship biofouling, In-water cleaning, capture efficiency, EnvironmentalRegulations, outcome-based approach
Received: 10 Sep 2025; Accepted: 04 Nov 2025.
Copyright: © 2025 Tamburri, Scianni and Georgiades. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.
* Correspondence: Mario N Tamburri, tamburri@umces.edu
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