Polluting Yachties Destroying Planet!

0

Last summer, my son and I made the mistake of taking our 14-foot ODay Javelin for a spin on Sarasota Bay, Fla., near

Practical Sailors editorial office. A stench filled the air, and the bay was littered with the floating carcasses of dead fish-rotting cowfish, triggerfish, snappers, and some very big redfish. We had seen the future . . . and it was horrifying.

The culprit was red tide, a toxic algae that can kill marine life and set off a chain reaction that turns large stretches of water into “dead zones,” areas so deprived of oxygen that fish literally suffocate.

Some experts link red tide blooms in Southwest Florida to the nutrient runoff from cane fields, lawns, and golf courses. Given the political clout of Big Sugar and developers in Florida, I expect boaters will soon be blamed for the mess. I am always amazed at how easily politicians can dilute the intentions of the Clean Water Act and shovel the burden onto sailors. How people who rely on the wind for propulsion and the sun for their power have become easy targets for enviornmental legislation says volumes about the way our political system works.

In Rhode Island, boaters-not an antiquated municipal sewage system-took the hit for contaminated shellfish beds. In the Florida Keys, boaters-not the plague of leaky septic systems-were pounded for polluting the reefs. And in California, bottom paint-not the states vast chemically enhanced farms-are being blamed for the pesticides that are leaching into bays.

Whats next?

Come September 2008, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency may start regulating the few activities on recreational boats that are still exempt from the Clean Water Act-using a sink, taking a shower, rinsing the hull, pumping out the bilge, and running the engine. Effectively, anything that is not yet regulated, and involves putting something in the water from a boat, could require an EPA permit.

How did we wind up in this fix? Blame it on a troublesome little hitchhiker called the zebra mussel.

Notorious foulers that can effectively clog power-plant cooling systems, the mussels presumably first came to the U.S. via ships ballast water. Because it is incidental to a ships normal operation, ballast water discharge has long been excluded from the permitting process established under the Clean Water Act.

As a result of a lawsuit brought by some states and environmentalists to stop the spread of invasive species, a U.S. District Court recently ruled that the EPA did not have the authority to exclude such “operational discharges.”

This ruling is under currently under appeal, but Im not holding my breath.

House Bill H.R. 2550, introduced by Senator Gene Taylor (D-Miss.) and currently in sub-committee, aims to stop this runaway train in the station. If youd rather not pay for a permit to rinse your deck, Id encourage you to write your congressman, expressing support for H.R. 2550.

The bill does not roll back existing environmental laws, or exempt big ships from laws restricting the discharge of ballast water. It applies only to recreational vessels, exempting those discharges that are incidental to the vessels operation-including deck runoff, engine cooling water, gray water, and oil-free bilge water. Laws prohibiting the discharge of oil, trash, and waste will remain in full force.

If enacted, the bill wont bring us any closer to the truth about whats killing our oceans, but we will be able to brush our teeth without being branded outlaws.

Darrell Nicholson
Editor

On the cover: The Sydney 36CR feels the draw of its assymmetrical. Photo by Andrea Francolini/ Sydney Yachts

Darrell Nicholson
Practical Sailor has been independently testing and reporting on sailboats and sailing gear for more than 50 years. Supported entirely by subscribers, Practical Sailor accepts no advertising. Its independent tests are carried out by experienced sailors and marine industry professionals dedicated to providing objective evaluation and reporting about boats, gear, and the skills required to cross oceans. Practical Sailor is edited by Darrell Nicholson, a long-time liveaboard sailor and trans-Pacific cruiser who has been director of Belvoir Media Group's marine division since 2005. He holds a U.S. Coast Guard 100-ton Master license, has logged tens of thousands of miles in three oceans, and has skippered everything from pilot boats to day charter cats. His weekly blog Inside Practical Sailor offers an inside look at current research and gear tests at Practical Sailor, while his award-winning column,"Rhumb Lines," tracks boating trends and reflects upon the sailing life. He sails a Sparkman & Stephens-designed Yankee 30 out of St. Petersburg, Florida. You can reach him by email at practicalsailor@belvoir.com.