Port of San Diego study examines alternative bottom paints.
SAN DIEGO — Back in 1988, when recreational, commercial and naval vessels alike were painted with antifouling hull coatings that contained tributyltin (TBT), copper was viewed as a less-effective but environmentally safer alternative. TBT-based hull paints were eventually banned in the U.S., and copper — billed as “an element found in nature” — became the effective ingredient used to prevent slime and marine growth on boat bottoms.
 | | | Photo by: yachtphotography.com | | A Copper-Free Future? — The Port of San Diego has commissioned a study of alternatives to copper-based hull paints, in response to calls for a ban on these popular antifouling coatings. | | |  | | | Photo by: yachtphotography.com | | Will Painting Routines Change? — If copper paint is banned, many boaters wonder if haulouts will be required more often. A new Port of San Diego study could provide answers. | | |
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Now, many environmentalists support a ban on the use of copper as an antifoulant, too. And boaters have been left to wonder, “What else is there?”
The Port of San Diego hopes to find an answer to that question in a new study of alternatives to copper-based hull paints. The results of the study will be presented to recreational boaters in about two years, as part of an environmental initiative to reduce the level of copper in San Diego Bay — particularly in the Shelter Island Yacht basin, which has high levels of copper.
The study was funded by a $100,869 grant from the Environmental Protection Agency, and its purpose is to identify coatings that boaters can use that will not harm the environment.
The Port of San Diego’s Board of Commissioners authorized an agreement with the Institute for Research and Technical Assistance to research nontoxic coatings, examining and analyzing both products that are currently available and products that are “newly emerging” or in pre-market demonstration phases.
Commissioners said the research project is expected to take 24 months, and detailed findings — identifying recommended alternative coatings — will be published in a report to the port.
This article first appeared in the January 2008 issue of The Log Newspaper. All or parts of the information contained in this article might be outdated. |
