Quantifying the total wetted surface area of the world fleet: a first step in determining the potential extent of ships’ biofouling

Autor: Cameron S. Moser, Gregory M. Ruiz, Jonathan F. Grant, A. Whitman Miller, Mario N. Tamburri, Timothy P. Wier, Matthew R. First, Lisa A. Drake
Rok vydání: 2015
Předmět:
Zdroj: Biological Invasions. 18:265-277
ISSN: 1573-1464
1387-3547
DOI: 10.1007/s10530-015-1007-z
Popis: Ships’ hulls can transport aquatic nuisance species, but there is little quantitative information about the magnitude of vessel biofouling on a global or regional scale. There does not exist a robust method to estimate the wetted surface area (WSA) of a particular fleet of ships, especially across the diversity of possible vessel types. An estimate of the total WSA of ship arrivals into a port or region is essential to determine the potential scope of biofouling and to inform management strategies to reduce the future invasions. Multiple statistical models were developed so commonly available ships’ parameters could be used to estimate the WSA for a given set of fleet data. Using individual ship characteristics and publicly available data from ~120,000 active commercial ships in the world fleet, the method results in a total global minimum WSA estimate of approximately 325 × 106 m2. The size of the global fleet employed here is greater than the commonly cited vessel number of approximately 80,000–90,000, as we include ships
Databáze: OpenAIRE
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