While marine biotechnology takes advantage of waters that span the entire globe, it is
not a matter of simple technology or a single field. Rather, it is a new, comprehensive
area of study that must be developed on a foundation of research in other fields.
Most life forms in the seas float or swim, but some also attach themselves to
materials within the water. On the coast, one can see many organisms
attaching themselves to large rocks, including shellfish, barnacles, and algae.
Farmed oysters and pearl oysters also live a sessile life, but the aforementioned creatures propagate in such a way as to create environments where
humans are likely to find themselves stuck. It does not present any problem
when these sessile organisms attach themselves to a coastal rock or, like
tetrapods, to a concrete security block. But when they attach themselves to
hulls and fishing nets, they can create problems of various kinds.
Few of us would see it as strange to find one or two small shellfish on the hull of
a boat. But when thousands—even tens of thousands or more—are growing there,
the hull becomes completely encircled with them, resulting in strong water resistance and potentially generating increased fuel costs as speeds are reduced. Stripping of paint from the boat’s surface is another problem. Similarly, the attachment
of sessile organisms to fixed nets or fishing nets placed to trap cultured fish results
in obstruction to water flow, and water quality can be greatly diminished by the
waste products and CO 2 generated by the organisms themselves. It is therefore
essential to devise means of removing sessile organisms that dwell in places where
they cause problems for people working in the oceans. What approaches might
there be for preventing an organism from attaching to and dwelling on the bottom
of a boat? Wouldn’t it be possible to make the hull in such a way that organisms
could not attach themselves to it? Questions like these led to the application of
paints containing a mixture of organotin compounds that prevent organisms from
attaching to hulls (Schultz et al. 2011).
Sessile organisms are not uniform; they come in quite a wide variety, including
algae, shells, and barnacles. When organic tin compounds were first applied to
prevent these different organisms from adhering, large amounts of drugs were used
to reduce costs and promote pharmacological effects. It represented one means of
removing the organisms—but it also carried a large pitfall of which people had been
unaware. Painting the bottoms of boats with organic tin compounds was indeed one
way of preventing sessile organisms from living there, but those compounds then
dissolved into the seawater, causing serious pollution of the ocean. In other words,
because the compounds used to paint the boats left so much residue in the body,
high concentrations of them accumulated in fish and algae, which were then passed
on to human beings. Organic tin compounds are toxic to all organisms, including
humans. Is it reasonable to pollute as important a resource as the ocean by using
such compounds? The issues raised by these compounds left humans facing the task
of having to find a new substance to use in their place to prevent biofouling. This
10
1 What Is Marine Biotechnology?
not a matter of simple technology or a single field. Rather, it is a new, comprehensive
area of study that must be developed on a foundation of research in other fields.
Most life forms in the seas float or swim, but some also attach themselves to
materials within the water. On the coast, one can see many organisms
attaching themselves to large rocks, including shellfish, barnacles, and algae.
Farmed oysters and pearl oysters also live a sessile life, but the aforementioned creatures propagate in such a way as to create environments where
humans are likely to find themselves stuck. It does not present any problem
when these sessile organisms attach themselves to a coastal rock or, like
tetrapods, to a concrete security block. But when they attach themselves to
hulls and fishing nets, they can create problems of various kinds.
Few of us would see it as strange to find one or two small shellfish on the hull of
a boat. But when thousands—even tens of thousands or more—are growing there,
the hull becomes completely encircled with them, resulting in strong water resistance and potentially generating increased fuel costs as speeds are reduced. Stripping of paint from the boat’s surface is another problem. Similarly, the attachment
of sessile organisms to fixed nets or fishing nets placed to trap cultured fish results
in obstruction to water flow, and water quality can be greatly diminished by the
waste products and CO 2 generated by the organisms themselves. It is therefore
essential to devise means of removing sessile organisms that dwell in places where
they cause problems for people working in the oceans. What approaches might
there be for preventing an organism from attaching to and dwelling on the bottom
of a boat? Wouldn’t it be possible to make the hull in such a way that organisms
could not attach themselves to it? Questions like these led to the application of
paints containing a mixture of organotin compounds that prevent organisms from
attaching to hulls (Schultz et al. 2011).
Sessile organisms are not uniform; they come in quite a wide variety, including
algae, shells, and barnacles. When organic tin compounds were first applied to
prevent these different organisms from adhering, large amounts of drugs were used
to reduce costs and promote pharmacological effects. It represented one means of
removing the organisms—but it also carried a large pitfall of which people had been
unaware. Painting the bottoms of boats with organic tin compounds was indeed one
way of preventing sessile organisms from living there, but those compounds then
dissolved into the seawater, causing serious pollution of the ocean. In other words,
because the compounds used to paint the boats left so much residue in the body,
high concentrations of them accumulated in fish and algae, which were then passed
on to human beings. Organic tin compounds are toxic to all organisms, including
humans. Is it reasonable to pollute as important a resource as the ocean by using
such compounds? The issues raised by these compounds left humans facing the task
of having to find a new substance to use in their place to prevent biofouling. This
10
1 What Is Marine Biotechnology?