SAN DIEGO—Copper and in-hull water cleaning has been off The Log’s radar for quite some time, but the issues has come back into relevance recently, thanks to interests in Marina del Rey and officials in San Diego broaching the topic of Total Maximum Daily Load, or TMDL, in recent weeks. Port district staff sought the board’s direction to update an ordinance on TMDL and in-water hull cleaning.
TMDL and in-water hull cleaning policies was the subject of the Port of San Diego’s most recent board meeting. Port district staff spoke with commissioners about the future of TMDL, copper loading, in-water hull cleaning and other vessel pollution matters at the board’s Oct. 8 meeting.
The port district has been under a state mandate since 2005 to reduce copper pollution at Shelter Island Yacht Basin. San Diego’s Regional Water Quality Control Board has specifically required the Port of San Diego to reduce copper loading into Shelter Island Yacht Basin by 76 percent before the end of 2022.
Commissioners directed port district staff to develop and update the district’s TMDL and in-water hull cleaning policies. Port district staff was also directed to pursue a comprehensive approach to vessel pollution.
Karen Holman, the port district’s director of environmental...
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3 Responses
More environmental friendly paints are already available and have been for some time now.Divers should always use soft carpet in my opinion ,but some don’t because they get return business more frequently as they wipe away your paint and cause barnacles to grow faster.
Tom Rega, that is a very ignorant statement. First off, nobody uses soft carpet these days as there have been better commercially manufactured products that are not abrasive. Secondly, “environmentally friendly” paints have proven not to work in our waters after 10-11 months and barnacles, etc can grow on painted surfaces in just 10-14 days of paint that is only months old. Regarding the “return business,” divers return regardless of your paint condition every month. It is in the divers’ best interests to preserve the paint as it makes their job easier. You really are a clueless.
Billy Knickerbocker nails it. I’m not sure why some people have such a hard-on for hull cleaners, but they do. This guy Tom Rega is clearly one of them. The inference that divers intentionally remove anti fouling paint in order to increase fouling on their customer’s boats (and thereby increase business) is ludicrous at best and ignorant at worst.