Preliminary Results on the Antifouling Potential of Copper Wire and Dyneema® Fiber Combined Twines for Aquaculture Net Cages

Abstract

Antifouling management for aquaculture cage nets has developed over the years to reduce the costs of cleaning the nets and minimize the damages caused to the nets by the encrustation of benthic organisms. There have been various approaches to this end such as using toxic paints (TBT-SPC, etc.) and nanomaterial coatings, mechanical cleaning using brushes, and constructing the net using copper alloys instead of nylon (or other) material, etc. We designed and constructed experimental fish farm nets substituting Dyneema® fibers with uncoated copper wire 0.15-0.2 mm in diameter by 5%, 10%, 20%, and 40% and deployed them in a commercial operating fish farm for almost 7 months. We examined their antifouling performance based on the percentage of mesh openness remaining by the end of the experimental period. The results showed that the antifouling performance increased with copper substitution level and peaked at a level of 29.79% and maximum mesh openness at 46.5%.