Antifouling cleanup – a pragmatic point of view
Renewing antifouling? Do the right thing...
In order that that licences and permits - the bug-bear of small leisure businesses - should be kept to a minimum the BMF is arguing for exemption for low-risk wash down facilities.
This includes small marinas where the wash-down water has been filtered. ‘It should be sensible to have a pragmatic approach to this’ says Brian Clark, ‘Looking at the whole picture, you have to ask yourself does the discharge have a significant impact on the marine environment?’
The Green Blue is just putting together some guidance on antifouling, which aims to review the products out there and tell you what it is going to do to the critters as well as what will best suit a particular boat. This should be available in the spring.
Application advice
However, it also has some practical advice for the painting stage to pass on. Since the key is to prevent anti-fouling from unnecessarily entering the water, the organisation recommends skirting the hull when scrubbing down or painting and using a tarpaulin to catch the flakes and drips.
Another important point to remember is that the dust from sanding paint and antifouling coatings is toxic. Using a dustless vacuum sander will protect health as well as the environment. Topside and antifouling paints and varnishes including used brushes, rollers and trays are now classified as hazardous waste and must be disposed of properly.
And last but not least, when selecting a place to clean up, it is encouraging people (if possible) to find a marina, club or boatyard which has a closed loop ‘scrub-down' facility that collects residues and wash down water.
Images for this article - click to enlarge
Unless otherwise stated, all images copyright © Mercator Media 2012. This does not exclude the owner's assertion of copyright over the material.
