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Subject: TWL: More Environmental Wackiness
From: Alex Hirsekorn (alexh@XXX.XXX)
Date: Tue Dec 03 2002 - 00:45:12 EST
HiHo Running Dog Capitalist/Imperialist Mercenaries,
Just Kidding!!!
So far a few people have said that they liked my post, one questioned my conclusions, a
couple of folks just wish we'd all shut the h*ll up and two people want to know where the
Feiro Marine Life Center is. Pretty diverse response. In deference to those who want this
topic to go away I'll try to keep this short. [In fact, I wouldn't post this at all except
that through a missed snipping opportunity Kurt got to have his say twice.]
First, the Feiro Marine Life Center is a sort of miniature aquarium similar to the one in
Poulsbo that's adjacent to the Trawler Fest area. Feiro is in Port Angeles on what is now
called the "City Pier"; if you're coming by land it's located at the foot of Lincoln
Street (the main North-South arterial in town); if you're coming by sea City Pier is the
easternmost pier in the harbor if you don't count the Rayonier facility which is
undergoing remediation as a superfund site. During the summer there is a couple hundred
feet of guest moorage available but the Port of Port Angeles has shown a rather cavalier
attitude toward when they put the floats in place and when they remove them - If you're
coming by sea drop me a line and I'll let you know if there's anyplace to tie up. BTW:
Feiro is closed for the season right now but will reopen in early May.
FWIW: I'm intending to write up a review of sorts for this moorage one of these days - The
dockage is fairly primitive but oh boy are there some terrific restaurants within an easy
walk! If and when I get around to that project I'll try to include lat/long figures for
it.
Just as Kurt isn't a total Capitalist lackey neither am I a traditional tree hugger. Last
year I was almost thrown out of a book signing for saying that I thought Port Angeles
could have had an environmentally safe oil transshipment facility rather than what they
got, which was nothing. Compromise just isn't a very popular stance when you're dealing
with "True Believers" of any stripe.
On to the environmental stuff. Kurt asks if I think that copper is really the problem and
goes on to cite several other sources of schmutz that can cause problems.
My answer is that copper bottom paint is A problem but not the only problem by any means.
All of the things Kurt mentioned (Sewage, detergents, oil/fuel, fertilizer/pesticide
runoff, etc.), the stray current that Arild mentioned, the shadows cast by the floats
(affects the movement of baby fish), and probably some things that haven't even been
noticed yet are all problems worthy of consideration. In fact, in our area the number one
cause for concern among environmental professionals is failing septic systems. It was,
however, bottom paint that started this thread so that's what I elected to discuss. As
Kurt points out the Hard bottom paints are significantly better for the environment.
Ablative copper bottom paints on the other hand are going to be hard on benthic
invertebrates by design: You've got a coating that's impregnated with copper and is
designed to slough off as time goes on in order to continually expose fresh copper. As the
coating ablates copper is sinking to the bottom and it's the bottom that, under normal
conditions, harbors the most life in terms of both biomass and diversity. Copper bottom
paints are not the only pollution problem and they probably aren't even in the top ten of
the worst problems but, just as we're advised against letting the best be the enemy of the
good, neither should we allow the worst to be the enemy of the bad. At the beginning of
this discussion it was suggested that we "be very afraid" that a new safer bottom paint
was being tested that doesn't last as long as existing paints. I disagree; rather than
fearing such a development why not contact the principles and say "Congratulations!
Exciting idea! You need to make the product last longer or we can't afford to use it."
I have said it here before: If we, as boaters, don't take a pro-active stance on these
matters we will lose any chance to affect our own destiny.
Wackily yours,
Alex
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