Study of the Process of Biofouling of Environmentally Safe Paint Coatings in the Natural Conditions of the White Sea

Abstract Paint coatings based on a copolymer of vinyl chloride with vinyl acetate with an additive of epoxy-diane resin of six different compositions are developed. The coatings differ in the nature of fillers (anatase, rutile, and cobalt and lanthanum oxides) and the composition of soft biocidal additives of the atrane class (protatrane of salicylic acid and hydrometallatranes based on triethanolamine complexes with zinc(II) and copper(II) salts). The process of biofouling in the natural conditions of the White sea is studied. Fouling communities formed on the studied plates during 2.5 months of exposure to the sea is analyzed, depending on the composition of the coatings. The fouling is based on the attached forms: scyphistomas (polypoid stage) of jellyfish Aurelia aurita and Cyanea sp., mussels Mytilus edulis, and hydroid Obelia longissima. The efficiency of the same paint coating appear to differ towards different species of fouling organisms.