[paulk]

It would be interesting to find out if some of these "invasive species" were reponsible for lobster die-offs or other problems. Most boaters I know don''t quibble about what''s growing on our boat bottoms -- we simply hose & scrape off whatever''s there. Identifying what we''re dealing with might be very informative. Press releases and/or calls & letters to marine publications like Cruising World might be very productive. We have friends who have cruised south for the winter - but we probably won''t see them again until they return in the spring!