Scientific Investigation of Antifouling Activity from Biological Agents and Distribution of Marine Foulers-Coastal Areas of Tamil Nadu.

Abstract

Biofouling is the result of a biological process that is the accumulation of micro- and macro-organisms on the surfaces of the ship which causes serious environmental problems. The consequence of biofouling includes modifying the hydrodynamic response, affecting heat exchange, can make structures heavier, accelerate or generating corrosion, biodegradation, increasing the fatigue of certain materials, and blocking mechanical functions. It causes severe problems for the objects in the water such as ships and buoys. Also, its impact on shellfish and other aquaculture was sometimes devastating. The main scope of this study is to review the currently available biocides from biological agents for marine submerged foulants and marine foulers that are present around the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu. Biological anti-fouling methods are preferred than that of the chemical and physical anti-fouling methods as it have some toxic effects on the non targeted marine biodiversity. This study focuses on the marine foulers that are present around the coastal areas of Tamil Nadu which will be helpful for the researchers to discover the suitable anti-foulers from a biological source, which will be very useful to protect the marine ecosystem and marine economy. A total of 182 antifouling compounds from marine biological sources were discovered. The marine microbes, Penicillium sp. and Pseudoalteromonas issachenkonii, were reported to possess EC50. The survey results obtained from this study show that Chennai coastal region has a lot of barnacles, and 8 different species were present in Pondicherry region.