Developing farming structures for production of biologically active sponge metabolites

A major obstacle to acceptance and use of sponge aquaculture as a viable method for production of biologically active metabolites is the lack of a farming technology suitable for commercial use. Using the New Zealand sponges Latrunculia sp. nov, Polymastia croceus and Raspailia agminata, all containing bioactive metabolites with biomedical potential, four general farming methods were examined: held on longline arrays sponge explants were farmed inside mesh support structures, rope threaded through explants and rope wrapped around explants. The fourth method additionally acted as a control procedure with sponge explants attached to substrate. Each general fanning method was expanded to examine the effects of various mesh sizes and/or rope materials. Most methods were found to be unsuitable for commercial application because the farmed explants did not attach to the supporting substrate but instead grew away from it and were subsequently lost. The two methods that showed the most potential for large-scale sponge fanning, in terms of good growth, survival and metabolite biosynthesis, were threaded polyvinyl alcohol rope and individual bags with large mesh size and thin strand diameter. These were developed into rope and mesh arrays that may be suitable for commercially farming sponges for metabolite production. (C) 2003 Published by Elsevier Science B.V.