Anti-foul laws

[Little_Russel]

Someone has informed me that even though us yachties are not allowed to use the very toxic anti-fouling of old, quite rightly, it is still alright for warships, tankers, fishermen, ferries and the like to use it. Is this so?

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[longjohnsilver]

Yes I think you're right, except fishermen can't, or rather shouldn't use it.

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[StugeronSteve]

So I understand, seems strange doesn't it. Probably due to them spending less time tied up in shallow water or something.

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[Deleted member 478]

I'm curious. Why can't they use it?

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[longjohnsilver]

Good question, don't know the answer! Maybe something to do with size? Expect someone will know.

Now found the answer, applies to all boats under 25 metres. Also seems a worldwide ban on TBT came into force from 1st Jan this year. <P ID="edit"><FONT SIZE=-1>Edited by longjohnsilver on 21/05/2003 20:16 (server time).</FONT></P>

 

[Deleted member 478]

That's probably why it was so cheap at the boat jumble

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[Sybarite]

They told me this at the Capitainerie at the same time when they said we would soon not be able to scrub down and antifoul between tides because of a European directive.

John

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[kgi]

The short answer is yes, the reson iwas given was that these vessels spend less time in port than do the rest of us, i used to have to ferry some university people around falmouth and surrounding waters, who were working on this problem and apparently as shellfish are filter feeders they ingest all the pollutants around, (not just anti fouling) but antifoul in areas like falmouth where there is quite a high concentration of boats is a large source of toxins in the water, of course we all like to eat the odd scallop or three and thats what they actually used for there tests bags of young scallops tied under all the bouys in and around the harbour, from these bagged and tagged scallops they could tell where the pollutants were coming from by the amount the scollies had ingested..........keith

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[qsiv]

Absolutely - the waste water from power washing will have to be contained by dams and pumped away for treatment and disposal. I suspect it will all lend weight to the CopperBot style treatments in the future.

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[oldharry]

As far as I remember TBT on small boats was banned because it was affecting the sex life of certain edible shell fish, and doing some other nasties to the environment. The argument was (is) that larger commercial craft spend most of their time offshore, and do not operate in shallow water, so their TBT does not pollute inshore regions. Most non-commercial vessels under 25m spend a large part of their life in shallow confined waters at their moorings. Small boat moorings are always in sheltered estuarial waters anyway which are the primary habitat of the type of organism whose fun was being ruined by TBT, and it was 'proved' that there were much higher concentrations of organic tin at these sites than at the deep water shipping berths, or in the open sea.

Anyway (and this was not in the government papers), TBT is a much more cost effective a/f for commercial use than anything else.

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[Evadne]

That's right. A lot of the studies on the effects of TBT was done by Plymouth Marine Lab. in the eighties, especially on Dog Whelks. In higher concentrations it has the effect of turning them into sterile hermaphrodites, which is not good for the long-term survival of the species. It has much the same effect on other molluscs as well, so it seemed a good idea to ban it from being put onto boats that spend 90% of their summer sitting in muddy creeks and harbours in close proximity to these animals. In lower concentrations it just collects the tin in the tissues and this is passed on to whatever eats the beastie. I don't know if anyone ever got around to studying what it might do to people.

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[ccscott49]

TBT is now banned for all ships. From 1st Jan I believe. But it was without doubt the best antifouling. I like my scallops, so I'm pleased it has been banned. Antifoul scraped off or even pressure washed off, has to be disposed of as hazardous waste, in Holland and has been for about five years now. The old scrubbing grid is about to go the same way as TBT, it's a worldwide ban on TBT, but a EEC ban on scrubbing. Not yet enforced in this country, but coming. Another way of extracting money from us!

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[AndrewB]

Correct, here\'s the gen ...

<A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.imo.org/InfoResource/mainframe.asp?topic_id=67&doc_id=1486>Convention on Control of Harmful Anti-fouling Systems on Ships</A>, as adopted by the International Marine Organisation, came into force 1st Jan. But it's rumoured that not all countries are as yet abiding by this convention.

TBT was banned for yachts in the EU back in 1989. It was used on my yacht up to 1997, I scrubbed all the last remains off this winter. It was a good antifouling, but very nasty stuff to handle.

 

[oldharry]

Re: Correct, here\'s the gen ...

Well I am glad to hear it. It always seemed to me that legislation had given way to commercial interests. I simply refuse to beleive that a supertanker arriving in Fawley was releasing any less organic tin than everyone in the Hamble who had used the stuff. Ok the Supertanker didnt go up the Hamble - but some of the water it affected must have done...!

At long last common sense has prevailed over commercial interest!

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