Limited knowledge of native marine biodiversity hinders effective biodiversity management to safeguard South and Southeast Asia’s marine coastal environment against the threat of invasive species transfer through shipping. In particular, sessile marine biofouling organisms in South East Asian ports are poorly known. Through the support of the ASEAN-India Cooperation Project on the Extent of Transfer of Alien Invasive Organisms in South/South East Asia Region by Shipping, a coordinated effort to examine diversity of biofouling organisms in major port areas in Southeast Asia and India was made using polyvinylchloride (PVC) panels as recruitment surfaces in a static immersion study for a period of 12 months. Not surprisingly, the study revealed that fouling patterns differed between ports possibly as a result of dissimilar hydrographic conditions. However, there were also underlying similarities that reflected a regional uniformity in the composition of fouling communities. At the same time, the alien Caribbean bivalve Mytilopsis sallei was detected in Manila Bay (Philippines), Songkhla Port (Thailand) and Singapore. This is a first simultaneous biofouling survey involving scientists and government stakeholders from India and ASEAN nations of Brunei Darussalam, Indonesia, Lao PDR, Malaysia, Myanmar, Singapore, Thailand, Philippines and Vietnam.

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We investigated plankton composition and water quality of ballast water from seven international ships docked at Kertih Port, Malaysia. Coscinodiscophyceae and cyanobacteria were the dominant phytoplankton found in ballast water samples, whereas copepod nauplii, Oithona sp., Microstella sp. and Paracalanus sp. were the dominant zooplankton. The densities for both phytoplankton and zooplankton in ships' ballast and port waters were higher than those of offshore samples. All water quality parameters (except Cr) of port samples were within the safety levels prescribed for ports, oil and gas fields (Class 3) by the Malaysia Marine Water Quality Criteria Standard. The study of fouling organisms using PVC panels revealed that brown algae covered 87-95% of the panels' surface area but they were subsequently succeeded by barnacles, bivalves and red encrusting algae. Barnacle recruitment, however, was greatly influenced by crab predation which left behind a high percentage cover of barnacle bases as calcareous deposits on panels. KEYWORDS Fouling organisms PhytoplanktonShip ballast water Water quality Zooplankton

The effects of two widely used pesticides in paddy fields, 2, 4-D, dimethylamine and endosulfan, on growth, photosynthetic rate and the photosynthetic pigments of Chaetoceros sp. and Nannochloropsis sp. were assessed in this study. The 48 hour 50% inhibitory concentration (IC 50 ) value for 2, 4-D dimethylamine on Chaetoceros sp. and Nannochloropsis sp. were 142.2 mg l −1 and 211.8 mg l −1 , respectively, and the 48 hour IC 50 value for endosulfan on Chaetoceros sp. and Nannochloropsis sp. were 21.9 µg l −1 and 45.8 µg l −1 , respectively. Endosulfan was much more toxic to the microalgae than 2, 4-D dimethylamine. Both pesticides reduced photosynthetic pigments and oxygen production rate of the microalgae. After 48 hours exposure to the pesticides, the microalgae were transferred to a pesticide-free medium to investigate the post-exposure effect. 2, 4-D dimethylamine and endosulfan did not cause irreversible damage on the microalgae. However, there was a prolonged lag phase and the maximum specific growth rate (µ) of the microalgae was significantly retarded.