Open ocean aquaculture (OOA) creates new ecosystems by placing human-made structures and nutrient sources in new marine environments. The biofouling communities that will exploit these new ecosystems may pose challenges in terms of infrastructure maintenance and fish health. Here I introduce Plant & Food Research’s New Open Ocean Ecosystems programme, which is exploring novel strategies for biofouling management in the context of open ocean finfish production. Underpinning the programme is the development of genetic, machine-learning models, and substrate-specific methods to better understand the composition and succession of biofouling communities in exposed locations on the types of materials used for finfish culture. This information supports other work aiming to manipulate biofouling succession using affordable, low-toxicity, plant-based coatings on farm structures. Other research is investigating the potential of employing a browsing herbivorous fish suited to high energy environments to graze on the net pen fouling and how the recovery of net pen fouling following cleaning could be exploited. This is a new bioresource we are investigating for a range of applications, from the production of hydroid chitins with special properties to feed stocks for insect production.