Distributional Characteristics of Macrofouling Organisms on Ocean-going Ships of the Far East Sea Basin

Distribution features of foulers attached on 28 ships of 6 main shipping routes (SR) of the Far East Sea Basin were analyzed using various statistical methods. Collections obtained during 1976-1990 in the expeditions by the Institute of Marine Biology were used for the analyses. Samples were taken from the ships during anchorage by SCUBA diving and from dry-docks of Vladivostok ship-repairing yard. In all cases, the distribution patterns of most animals and algal species showed clear contagious patterns. Total biomass of fouling organisms and biomass of attached animals frequently increased along the horizontal direction of ship hulls, from the stem to the sternpost. Animal and algal species were usually located at different sites of the hulls. According to the increasing floating speed, there was, a clear tendency of the displacement in main fouling biomass from the stem to the stem. Any generalizations and deductions concerning the distribution patterns of the foulers from the same SR ships are not always substantiated, but one may see some similarities of the fouler distributions in many cases. Micro-scale turbulence generated by water flow around a ship hull for the distribution of fouling organisms is discussed.