Boat Paints Blamed For Oyster Woes
Sydney Morning Herald
Tuesday August 16, 1988
NSW oyster growers have called on the State Government to restrict the use of anti-fouling paints on boats following a $12 million drop in production thought to be a direct result of a chemical contained in the paints.
Oyster growers fear that unless the Government acts on the plea, NSW's lucrative oyster industry will be wiped out, a seminar organised by the Institution of Engineers was told yesterday.
Mr Andrew Derwent, of the Oyster Growers' Association, said levels of tributyltin (TBT) in the Hawkesbury and Georges Rivers were the same as those which had destroyed overseas oyster farms.
Use of the chemical, which has been employed since the mid-1970s to protect boat hulls from marine organisms such as barnacles, is now banned or heavily restricted in many countries, including Japan, Germany, Britain and France.
Mr Derwent said the income of oyster growers in the Hawkesbury and Georges Rivers was down by a total of $6.5 million compared with the mid-1970s. Overall, the income of the NSW industry is down by $12 million.
A marine biologist, Mr Marcus Scammell, said a correlation between TBT and the decline of oyster populations had been established in France and the UK and tests had found TBT to be extremely toxic to oysters.
© 1988 Sydney Morning Herald