Dariush Saberi

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