Washington state has become the first state in the union to ban the use of copper based anti fouling paints and it looks as though California will not be far behind. After January 1st 2018 it will be illegal in Washington to sell boats with copper based anti fouling paints and paints with no more than 0.5 % copper cannot be used after January 1st 2020. It seems likely that other states will follow suit. What bothers me about this is that boats over 65 feet are exempt as are all government vessels, research vessels and commercial vessels. So basically the one people that it is going to affect is the small recreational boater. So that means that in Port Townsend, WA I cannot paint the bottom of my Boston Whaler with a copper based paint but right next to me in the ship yard they can be spraying on copper based paint to a 370 foot bulk carrier! Now the surface area of that Boston Whaler boat that is contact with the water is but a minor pimple compared with the bulk carrier. Then when we factor in that the Whaler is dry sailed off the trailer and may only go into the water a few weeks a year but the bulk carrier sits at the dock for days leeching copper into the surrounding water. Something does not add up here.
Copper is one of the best anti fouling treatments out there. The British admiralty knew it hundreds of years ago and started nailing sheets of cooper onto the bottom of their warships to prevent infestation from ship-worm and other pests. Anti fouling works because it is toxic if you make anti fouling less toxic then the boat become more susceptible to fouling. Come on, does the average recreational boater make that much difference, I don't think so. The other problem for paint manufacturers is that they now have to come up with alternatives. We had this same problem some years ago when TBT (tri butyl tin) was banned which again was only for recreational craft, commercial vessels were exempt. If congress and individual states are really worried about our oceans then worry about the billions of oil that were spilled into the Gulf last year of which no one seems to have been held accountable.
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