Coming to an end

With the project coming to an end in December 2024, the last couple of months for the South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands project has focused on wrapping up the project and delivering the findings and recommendations to the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. We’ve also managed to squeeze a few more vessel hull surveys at start of the spring, thanks to the support of vessel operators in the region.

What has been achieved through the project?

Over the past year, the project has further developed the evidence base on the risk of marine introductions and potential ways to improve marine biosecurity for South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands. This has covered 5 main areas of work

• Surveying vessels to understand the levels of biofouling on hull and niche areas and risk indicators such as time since last dry docking and lay up periods
• Conducting a global policy review and analysis to understand what approaches are used to manage biofouling in other regions, and how they are implemented.
• Learning from regional stakeholders about some of the opportunities and challenges for improving marine biosecurity, and engaging with marine biosecurity practitioners from around the globe to understand what lessons have been learned.
• Conducting experiments to understand whether invasive species already present in the Falkland Islands could survive transport to South Georgia attached to the hull of a ship
• Trying out new genetic monitoring techniques in South Georgia to develop recommendations for strategic monitoring to detect marine invasive species incursions early.

The project has made some final recommendations for how to improve biosecurity, including how to better manage the risk from biofouling on vessels, strategic monitoring of vessels travelling to South Georgia and establish monitoring for non-native species at frequently visited sites in South Georgia.

We would like to thank the project partners, the Government of South Georgia and the South Sandwich Islands and the British Antarctic Survey, and all those who have been involved with the project for taking the time to share their knowledge and facilitate data collection.  The reports from the project will be available online on the South Georgia Government website over the coming months.