CAN COPPER-BASED SUBSTRATES BE USED TO PROTECT HATCHERIES FROM INVASION BY THE NEW ZEALAND MUDSNAIL?Aquaculture facilities throughout North America are at risk of invasion by the New Zealand mudsnail (Potamopyrgus antipodarum). Mudsnails can enter facilities in several ways including by crawling through effluent pipes. There is evidence to suggest that lining the insides of these pipes with copper-based substrates to create a contact deterrent could reduce the risk of mudsnail invasion. However, before copper-based deterrents can be recommended for wide-scale use, it is important that we understand how these materials perform across the range of physicochemical conditions common to hatcheries. The goal of this project was to evaluate the relative ability of four types of copper-based materials (copper sheet; SC (0.323 mm, 99.9% pure), copper mesh; MC (6.3 opening/cm, 99% pure), copper-based ablative anti-fouling paint; AP (Vivid Antifouling Paint, 25% cuprous thiocyanate as the active ingredient), and copper-based nonablative anti-fouling paint; NP (Sealife 1000, 39% cuprous oxide as the active ingredient)) to serve as effective mudsnail contact deterrents across a range of water temperatures (8, 12, 18, and 24° C), hardness (75, 125, 175, and 300 mg/L as CaCO 3 ), pH (6, 7, and 8.

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