Marine fouling organisms refer to the organisms that attach and grow on the surfaces of artificial structures, posing a threat to human marine economic activities, including marine flora and fauna as well as marine microorganisms, covering almost all major categories of marine life (Yebra et al., 2004). These marine fouling organisms attach and grow on the surfaces of submerged ships and marine facilities, which is known as marine biological fouling and can cause significant losses to human marine economic activities. Because the ships covered with fouling organisms will increase the fluid dynamic resistance of the vessels, thereby affecting speed, fuel consumption and operability (Yebra et al., 2004; Jin et al., 2022), they also introduce invasive alien species, accelerate the corrosion of marine facilities' metals, and affect the yield and quality of aquaculture.
How to prevent marine pollution organisms has become a problem that humans have been striving to solve in recent years. Currently, the way for fishermen at home and abroad to reduce biological pollution is to apply a layer of anti-fouling coating to the fishing vessels. Applying anti-fouling coatings means applying coatings containing anti-fouling active substances, which are released into the sea water to achieve the effect of reducing the attachment of pollution organisms or directly killing them. Unfortunately, although preventing the fouling of the ship body has economic and environmental benefits, the most common anti-fouling technology today has caused damage to the marine environment.
Although researchers both at home and abroad have recognized that the use of copper-containing anti-fouling coatings may pose certain threats to the marine environment, current research on heavy metals in sea areas mainly focuses on marginal seas and oceanic regions. Domestic and international researchers have paid little attention to the content of heavy metals in port areas, and the specific hazards of these metals are still unknown. Therefore, copper-containing anti-fouling coatings are still widely used on domestic and international fishing vessels. Moreover, since copper does not degrade in the environment, the areas and facilities where anti-fouling paints are applied and used (such as ports, harbors, docks, waterways, shipyards, recycling facilities, etc.) and the surrounding water, sediments, and/or soil compartments are often contaminated by copper accumulation.
In conclusion, the harm caused by the use of copper-containing anti-fouling coatings must be significant. Fujian Province has the second longest coastline in the country, and the number of ships in use and the traffic volume are undoubtedly huge. It is of paramount importance to clearly understand the use of anti-fouling coatings in various coastal areas and whether they will cause harm to the environment.