Novel method for assessing the en route survivorship of biofouling organisms on various vessel types

Shipping is considered the single largest vector for the human-mediated movement of non-indigenous marine species (NIMS) around the world (e.g., Ruiz et al., 1997; Minchin and Gollasch, 2002). A variety of shipping mechanisms (e.g., ballast and bilge water discharges, biofouling, de-fouling, sea-chests, sea-sieves, anchors, chain lockers and piping; see Carlton et al., 1995; Schormann et al., 1990) are capable of transporting NIMS to new locations. Biofouling or hull fouling is now being acknowledged as one of the single most important dispersal mechanisms alongside ballast water (e.g., Cranfield et al., 1998; Thresher et al., 1999; Hewitt, 2002;Gollasch, 2002;Hewitt et al., 2004).