At St. Francis Xavier University, a group of professors with specialties spanning from biology, engineering and physics has teamed up to fight small marine creatures.

The five professors are at the heart of the university’s Centre for Biofouling Research, which is seeking environmentally-friendly methods for controlling marine biofouling. Biofouling affects industries from oil and gas to shipping, and the St. FX researchers are banking on a large demand for non-toxic solutions.

The group is focusing much of its effort on anti-fouling in local aquaculture, particularly the mussel industry.

“A number of fouling species cause considerable economic burdens on aquaculture by increasing weight and (causing) equipment failures, impeding growth of farmed stocks and increasing cleaning costs,” they note. Thus the group is examining various non-toxic coatings to be used on boats, docks, lines, buoys and other infrastructure.
“Cleaning unwanted marine growth off of aquaculture infrastructure in the water is very time consuming and expensive. Successful aquaculture depends upon a clean environment and therefore only non-polluting and sustainable means can be used.”
Funding for the research includes $300,000 from Encana Corp. and an NSERC Collaborative Research and Development grant. It also involves the testing of various coatings in the field.

“The most prominent immediate local significance of this project will be the potential for more economically efficient mussel farming,” they add. “The progress we make combatting fouling in the aquaculture industry will likely have crossover benefits in other industries. Indeed, we are already exploring how our antifouling solutions can be refined for applications in the Atlantic Canadian oil and gas industry.”