Biofouling has a pronounced negative impact on the profitability of mariculture. With the advent of global warming and the transition of mariculture activities towards offshore locations, biofouling challenges are anticipated to escalate, rendering the cleaning of maricultural infrastructure both more arduous and costly. To minimise this, anti-fouling coatings and physical removal techniques have been applied. However, many of these methods pose risks for the aquaculture species and the environment. To optimise mitigation tools and identify novel alternatives, this talk will discuss the development of novel techniques to facilitate effective monitoring of biofouling communities to inform management decisions.
Specifically, this talk will explore the utility of metabarcoding tools, and machine leaning (ML) models to assess biofouling communities. These methods were employed to analyse the biofouling growth patterns and community composition on different aquaculture materials/fabrics in replicated exposed and sheltered sites, and at different depths, at regular sampling times throughout winter and summer seasons. Preliminary results will be presented. The findings from this research will provide novel knowledge about the factors driving biofouling community composition in space and time to inform future mitigation strategies.