Welcome to the home page of Oman Biofouling Project!
Marine biofouling, which is an undesirable growth of micro- and macro-organisms on man-made surfaces, causes enormous problems in the maintenance of ships, boats, fishing nets, cages and desalination plants worldwide. Countries worldwide are spending more than US$5 billion per year to fight biofouling using toxic compounds that kill non-target organisms and accumulate in the marine environment. Biofouling is causing serious impact on all industries in the Sultanate: biofouling is responsible for clogging pipes and membranes of desalination plants and steam-injection plants in oil industry, decreasing speed and increasing corrosion and fuel consumption in vessels, damaging fishing nets and cages and decreasing their fishing efficiency. In comparison to other regions, there is no effective strategy to deal with biofouling and its economic and environmental impact in Oman waters.
Our research group based at Sultan Qaboos University is studying formation and diversity of biofouling communities, effectiveness of current antifouling methods and their environmental consequences, and identifying biofouling species causing major industrial problems. Our group specializes in education and research that promises an understanding and improvement for the design of antifouling protection systems.
Principal Investigator, Sultan Qaboos University
Dr. Sergey Dobretsov
