A comparative study on the efficiency of locally available antifouling paints against the settlement of Balanus amphitrite amphitrite (Darwin)

• Main Authors: Carmona, Rosemarie Bernardo, Sembrano, Roderick Nubla
• Format: text
• Language: English
• Published: Animo Repository 1998
• Subjects: Paint (Antifouling); Marine pollution; Boats and boating—Painting; Biology
• Online Access: https://animorepository.dlsu.edu.ph/etd_bachelors/4047
• Institution: De La Salle University

Biofouling is the deposition of unwanted materials that are biologically derived. Accumulation of biofoulants such as mussels, oysters and barnacles affects the performance of ships, increases fuel consumption, and decrease speed and cruising range. To avoid or minimize the negative effects of these biofoulants, antifouling coatings are used on boat hulls. Antifouling paints work by making boat surface inhospitable to marine life. When these antifouling paints are submerged in the water, they slowly leach sizable amounts of toxic chemicals, thus settlement of the barnacle, Balanus amphrite amphitrite, the most dominant biofoulant in the Philippine waters, on glass slides coated with different antifouling paints namely Boysen R antifouling paint, DutchboyR antifouling paint, Sinclair R antifouling paint, and on control glass slides (glass slides with Boysen R ordinary paint and no paint glass slides), in the two experiments conducted in Barangay Longos, Bacoor Bay, Zapote V, Bacoor Cavite. The results of experiment A and B revealed that the mean numbers of attached B. amphitrite on Dutchboy R antifouling and Boysen R ordinary coated glass slides were the highest in the two size classes studied. There were two statistically different groups formed between the treatments. The big size class (p< 0.05) of experiment A and the small size class (p< 0.05) and total counts (p< 0.001) of experiment B have significant differences among the treatments. Boysen R antifouling paint, Sinclair R antifouling paint, and the no paint treatments belong to the first group, while Dutchboy R antifouling paint and Boysen R ordinary paint belong to the second group. The first group of treatments obtained low barnacle counts in contrast to the second group. High barnacle settlement recorded in Boysen R ordinary paint coated glass slides was due to the absence of inhibiting agents. However, low barnacle settlement was also recorded in the no paint treatment, which could be attributed to the absence or presence of physical cues