Environmental impact of antifouling technologies: state of the art and perspectives

Abstract

ABSTRACT1. Marine fouling affects most man-made surfaces temporarily or permanently immersed in the sea, resulting in significant (or substantial) economic costs. Intense research is aimed at preventing or reducing fouling.2. The most widespread solution to avoid fouling formation is to make surfaces unsuitable for settlers, coating them with antifouling (AF) paints containing toxic compounds. Most AF agents (e.g. tributyltin, (TBT)) have undesirable effects on non-target species, including commercially important organisms.3. To date, the use of TBT in AF paints has been restricted (but not prohibited) in a number of countries and new biocides are in use.4. The environmental problems posed to marine systems by AF technologies are here briefly reviewed.5. New approaches focusing on alternatives to the use of biocidal AF paints are also considered and discussed. THE PROBLEM OF FOULING AND ITS PREVENTIONThe organisms that settle on man-made surfaces are known as fouling. They come from the water column as propagules searching for a hard substrate to complete their life-cycle. The development of fouling begins as soon as a suitable substrate is immersed in the sea. Surfaces are immediately conditioned by organic molecules, a prerequisite for the settlement of microfouling, including bacteria, fungi and protozoans. The development of fouling communities proceeds with the establishment of macrofoulers such as macroalgae,

Modeling the mass balance and fate of copper in San Diego Bay

“…Because of its broad use in antifouling coatings, copper is one of the most ubiquitous and problematic contaminants in harbor, estuarine, and coastal marine environments (Moffett et al 1997;Terlizzi et al 2001;Ranke 2002). Other general sources of copper include municipal discharges, industrial discharges, stormwater and nonpoint source (NPS) runoff, sediment fluxes, and mining and ore handling (Nriagu 1996;Rivera-Duarte and Flegal 1997;Eriksen et al 2001).…”

Modern approaches to marine antifouling coatings

“…The use of organotins was eventually banned due to severe shellfish deformities and the bioaccumulation of tin in some ducks, seals and fish [25,26], resulting in legislation that culminated in the global ban of tributyltin (Fig. 2); as reviewed by Champ [27] and Terlizzi et al [28].…”

“…The ban on TBT in 2003 created a gap in the market and research began into environmentally acceptable replacements (Table 1) as reviewed elsewhere [28,36,37,40]. In the interim, other metallic species, such as copper and zinc are in current use as substitutes and are delivered in a modified self-polishing copolymer delivery mechanism.…”

Associated fauna and effects of epibiotic barnacles on the relative growth and reproductive indices of <em>Stramonita haemastoma</em> (Gastropoda: Muricidae)

“…The most studied aspect in S. haemastoma is the imposex phenomenon (Spence et al 1990, Rilov 1999, Lemghich and Benajiba 2007, Lahbib et al 2010, El Ayari et al 2015, the sexual deformity associated with marine pollution by organotin compounds such as tributyltin (TBT) and its derivatives (Terlizzi et al 2001). Recently, the effect of epibiotic barnacles on imposex in S. haemastoma sampled from Tunisian coasts was investigated (El Ayari et al 2015).…”