1.1 The Marine Environment Protection Committee
(MEPC), at its sixty-second session, adopted, by resolution MEPC.207(62), the 2011 Guidelines
for the control and management of ships' biofouling to minimize the
transfer of invasive aquatic species, (the Guidelines). The
aim of the Guidelines is to provide a globally consistent approach
to managing biofouling by providing useful recommendations on general
measures to minimize the risks associated with biofouling for all
types of ships.
1.2 MEPC 62 requested that members take urgent
action in applying the Guidelines, including: disseminating the Guidelines
to the shipping industry and other interested parties, taking the
Guidelines into account when adopting measures to minimize the risk
of introducing invasive aquatic species via biofouling, and reporting
to the MEPC on any experience gained in their implementation. MEPC
agreed to keep the Guidelines under review based on experience gained
in their implementation. This would include consideration as to whether
the voluntary Guidelines are effective in influencing biofouling management
practices.
1.3 This Guidance is provided to assist Member
States and observers who wish to collect information needed to undertake
future reviews of the Guidelines, and to do this in a more consistent
way. The Guidance identifies the types of performance measures (section
3) that could help to assist in evaluating the different recommendations
in the Guidelines. A party wishing to collect information may do so
for all or only some of these measures.
1.4 It is anticipated that the information needed
to review the Guidelines could be collected by Member States and/or
observers and submitted to the appropriate Sub-Committee.