Assessment of biofouling guidelines for management of fishing gear and fleet in the northern Persian Gulf to prevent the spread of invasive aquatic species

The purpose of this study is to describe fishermen’s and managers’ current awareness of International Maritime Organization (IMO) biofouling guidelines to improve biofouling management on all fishing vessel types in the northern Persian Gulf. A total of 234 in-depth and semi-structured interviews were conducted face-to-face with fishermen and managers using a random sampling technique from February to November 2021. Analyses of data indicated that the majority of industrial fishermen (87%) and all of managers were aware of the IMO biofouling guidelines, but traditional fishermen had a low level of awareness (38%) and they had also many problems such as increased cost, lack of training courses, lack of sufficient facilities for implementation of IMO biofouling guidelines. For industrial fishermen, literacy was a most effective variable on awareness of IMO guidelines (p ˂ 0.05, r = 1.62). As regulations to prevent invasions and the accumulation of biofouling in fishing gear and fleets, biofouling should be managed and evaluated, and also training should be provided to fishermen to clean the biofouling of fishing gear and fleets in accordance with IMO guidelines, as well as more monitoring by managers, environmentalists, the government, and policymakers.