The Port of Sepetiba, State of Rio de Janeiro, was chosen as the Brazilian pilot area for the project "Global Ballast Water Management Programme" (GloBallast Programme). For comparative purposes, six countries were guided by the GloBallast Programme to follow the same methodology, emphasizing identification of organisms to the specific level during the preliminary biota survey. This study aimed to apply the methodology established by the Australian Centre for Research on Introduced Marine Pests (CRIMP procedures) for the floristic survey of macroalgae of natural hard substrate of the area of Port of Sepetiba. Macroalgal samplings were carried out in November 2001 at nine sites situated in Sepetiba Bay and adjacent area, from the sublittoral fringe to ca. - 4 m deep. At each site, six 0.1 m² quadrates were scraped. Specimens were sent to the Herbarium of the "Instituto de Pesquisas Jardim Botânico do Rio de Janeiro" (RB). Ninety six species were identified (20 Chlorophyta, 16 Phaeophyta, and 60 Rhodophyta); 12 species have not been cited to the study area by the preceding studies. Cladophora pellucidoidea C. Hoek, Coelothrix irregularis (Harv.) Boergesen, and Acrochaetium savianum (Menegh.) Nägeli are recorded for the first time to the state of Rio de Janeiro. There are no evidences to conclude that the new records correspond to recently introduced species through the port activities. The methodological procedures proved to be efficient because they produced a species list to be comparable to those of taxonomic surveys with higher sampling effort. They also enlarged the existing information about the phycological flora of Sepetiba Bay. Nevertheless, for future studies, we point out the importance of a re-evaluation of the temporal and spatial scales of the sampling strategy. We recommend the methodological standardization of floristic surveys for port areas such as Sepetiba Bay, as well as other Brazilian coastal areas subjected to human interferences, taking into account the CRIMP procedures.
ballast water; Sepetiba bay; floristic survey; macroalgae; monitoring procedures
