The Effect of Biofouling in Marine Fish Cage Culture

Biofouling are small and big creatures (such as barnacles, shellfish, and algae) which are attached in the cage farming industry on cages and creates many problems. These problems typically include increasing the weight of the net, reducing water flow, creating undesirable environmental conditions in the cage, increasing the risk of illness and managing problems. In general, many undesirable managerial processes, such as unsatisfactory food, inappropriate feeding time, inappropriate site selection, unstructured cages arrangement, inappropriate storage time and harvest, increase the effects of these creatures and production costs. There are many ways to reduce the effects of the presence of these creatures, including the use of anti-fouling, washing the nets, removal and drying of nets during sunshine and other methods. In general, with the consideration of some management factors and considering environmental conditions, the presence of these organisms can be reduced.