Practical Boat Owner • http://www.pbo.co.uk 13
TALKING POINT
unwashed brushes under his boat. They
were there for over three weeks.
This particular marina and the harbour
authority in which it is located, have
published guidelines on antifouling,
sanding and waste disposal, both online
and in leaflet form. They’ve been
produced with some thought and care
and the message is clear: collect your
waste and dispose of it correctly.
Excellent. The problem is, there seems to
be no enforcement. Boat owners are
polluting the environment on a daily basis
and it seems to be accepted as “the price
of doing business”.
A mile or so away scrubbing piles are
being used at low water, and as the tide
comes in a blue stain spreads upstream.
There are small children paddling in it in
clear view of the harbour office. Another
boat owner is saving money, and has run
his bilge-keeler up on the sandy spit near
the harbour entrance. He gives the hull a
good scrubbing, and when the tide comes
in the blue stain spreads over the shallows
where hundreds of juvenile bass take
shelter. Bass are classed as a protected
species and this harbour is a designated
bass nursery area.
What is the solution?
If you carried out any of these actions in
New Zealand you’d be prosecuted by the
Environmental Protection Agency, and so
would the marinas and harbour authorities
who allowed you to do it. The marinas
would be in danger of losing their licence
to operate and you’d risk having your boat
impounded. You’d face a large fine.
In 2015, I spent a month in a marina and
boatyard in Whangarei, New Zealand,
which is just south of the Bay of Islands.
The difference in culture was immediately
apparent. Wet sanding is not allowed and
anyone doing it is immediately spoken to
by both the marina staff and other boat
owners. Wet sanding is, of course, easier
on the lungs compared to dry-sanding
(without an extractor), but think about
what happens to the residue. When it
rains it finds its way into the marina, so it is
expressly forbidden. This is explained
verbally to each new arrival and a
document detailing the acceptable
working procedures is passed to everyone
using the facilities. This is backed up by
prominent signs in the marina and patrols
by marina staff throughout the day. After
heavy rain, the authorities will take water
samples downstream of marinas and use
these as evidence in prosecutions.
So, everybody dry sands and extraction
is used at all times. I don’t know if you've
ever sanded for eight days with a large
orbital sander and a heavy extraction hose
hindering your work, and the extraction
unit constantly falling over, but it’s
simultaneously exhausting and frustrating.
I confess I was a tad angry on the first day,
but here’s the thing... you get used to it. It
becomes the norm because everyone is
working this way. It’s cultural; the health of
the environment overall is more important
than your convenience.
The boatyard staff play their part too.
When they haul and blast a hull, it’s done
over a large filter built into the
hardstanding and the waste collected is
disposed of correctly. They know if they
don’t follow the rules there will be
consequences. The idea of actually
hosing antifouling residue into the ocean
would seem to them ludicrous. Yes, theseprocedures do cost a little more, but they
direct the money earned in marina fees to
the important areas, rather than spending
it on oak panelled shower rooms and two
different kinds of moisturising hand lotion.
The culture here seems to be: make
things as easy as possible for the boat
owner or they’ll take their boat and moneyelsewhere. There are some guidelines, but
they are meaningless unless enforced.
Marinas, boatyards and harbour
authorities need to start changing the
culture, educating boat owners and
enforcing rules. If these rules continue to
be broken, councils and the Environment
Agency need to prosecute.
There are over 200 coastal marinas in
the UK, dozens more on inland
waterways, plus hundreds of boatyards.
Some will be investing in environmental
protection and taking various precautions
to prevent water pollution. These
establishments should be applauded and
supported by conscientious boat owners.Taking a stand
I have reported the marina that I visited to
the Environment Agency, because my
complaints to the management were
acknowledged but clearly not acted upon.
I would encourage other readers who feel
the same way as me to follow suit with
offending marinas or boatyards and keep
me updated by emailing: anti100fouling@
gmail.com. The technology exists to
prevent surface water pollution, it is simply
a matter of letting the marinas and
boatyards know that we, their customers,
expect the existing regulations to be
enforced and facilitated.
At the very least, we can ensure as the
Environment Agency website states:
‘When removing old antifouling paint
layers, care must be taken to prevent
effluent and solids from these activities
being discharged to a watercourse.’
A document called the Green Guide to
Boat Washdown Systems is available on
the Green Blue website and the British
Coatings Federation has set up its own
antifouling guidance scheme online:
http://www.safeantifouling.comThere are some
guidelines, but they
are meaningless
unless enforced
Open tins of antifouling left for three
weeks underneath one boat: the marina
where it occurred has been reported to the
Environment AgencyA blue slick flows unfiltered into the marina
surface water. Sights like this are
commonplace in the UK but would result in
a prosecution in New Zealand