EPA and antifouling - the next step

[grant 40]

and the latest part is.....

 

Reassessment of Antifouling paints: Latest update – 28 February 2013

 

We have received advice on the suitability of current hazard classifications of the antifouling paints being reassessed as part of application APP201051, and have compiled a report entitled “APP201051 Classification Update Report” (attached). The report describes our review of the classifications for antifouling paint substances, classification change recommendations and the effect that classifications changes may have on the controls that apply to those substance approvals.

 

The report will also be available to view here from 1 March 2013:

http://www.epa.govt.nz/search-databases ... =APP201051 .

 

This report is provided as additional information that interested parties may comment on. The closing date for comments on this report is Friday 22 March 2013. Your comments can be emailed to reassessments@epa.govt.nz – please ensure that the application code APP201051 is referenced in your email.

 

Any comments received will be provided to the Decision Making Committee as additional information.

 

Kind regards,

 

Dr Matthew Allen

Senior Advisor, Hazardous Substances

Applications and assessment

 

Environmental Protection Authority · Level 10 · 215 Lambton Quay · Private Bag 63002 · Wellington 6140 · New Zealand

Tel +64 4 916 2426 · Fax +64 4 914 0433 · DDI +64 4 474 5553 · www.epa.govt.nz

[Battleship 100]

Can anyone translate that?

[PaulR 3]

Can anyone translate that?

 

Some Maori fellas standing on the forshore reckon that them wealthy white fancy boat owners paint their boats with cheap paint and should pay more because when mukapuna drink and paint themselves with antifoul paints, dey still smell like real fowl. So them had a hui with a govt fella who kneeds to keep his job who rote this long stuff bout paint, bad sh*t paint, new sh*t hot stuff and recons he can get us a kickback so when our cozin paints boats he will get us some real neat new overalls, shoes and stuff and paint our houses for free and the white fellas will neva know, eh bro.

 

or see the 157 pages, yet to be trannsaalllaaattteeed into Te Reo. Dare a lot of uda big words we never herd bout two.

 

[PaulR 3]

Application Document:

Page 9: HSNO Committee members have a variety of backgrounds and expertise in a range of fields such as science, law and tikanga Māori, and are appointed for a fixed term of 3 years.

 

Page 13: Māori have concerns about the effects of AFPs.

 

Page 13: The decision-making committee noted Māori are becoming increasingly aware of hazardous substances and the risks they may pose. Māori have a particular interest in ensuring the Mauri of waterways is not damaged and in ensuring food sources are protected. As AFPs can leach into waterways, the safe use of these substances is particularly relevant to Māori.

EPA staff engage specifically with Māori to take into account the relationship of Māori, their culture and traditions, with their ancestral lands, water, sites, waahi tapu, valued flora and fauna and other taonga.

 

Page 14: The risks of adverse effects to human health are most likely to occur during application of AFPs. The applicators and bystanders are most likely to be exposed during application. Skin contact and inhalation are considered the main routes of exposure.

 

Page 41: overall evaluation of the consultation process undertaken with Māori prior to the lodgement of the Application. Parties who were consulted indicated there would be an adverse impact on Māori taonga, manaakitanga, taha hauora and their responsibilities as kaitiaki due to the build up of AFPs in marine environments. Beneficial impacts to kaitiakitanga and the protection of taonga species from continued use were also identified. These will be discussed, and an evaluation of the impact of this Application on the principles of te Tiriti o Waitangi will be provided.

 

Page 41: EPA staff have held consultative hui with iwi/Māori groups in regions where there is high use of antifouling paints (Northland, Auckland, Central North Island, Tauranga and the top of the South Island). Input was also sought at the EPA‘s national hui in Wellington (August 2012). The purpose of these hui was to canvas Māori opinion and obtain information about the impacts of continued use of AFPs. Iwi representatives were also sent regular updates and information about the scope and nature of the Application. Māori will have opportunities for further input throughout the submission and hearing process.

 

Page 42: A further concern relates to the ability of Māori to express manaakitanga when hosting manuhiri (visitors) in their rohe (area/territory). Consultees considered some native plants and animals were being exposed to AFPs in their regions meaning that they could not be harvested from traditional gathering grounds. The Tauranga harbour is an area where there is a local Mataitai (reserve for traditional Maori fishing) where local Māori are able to gather kaimoana. Any effect from AFPs in this location would further increase the already considerable impacts from the large volume of shipping traffic in this area.

Māori also expressed concern at the potential for the substances to adversely affect the mauri ora of human health when exposed to AFPs for prolonged periods, particularly with such activities as Waka Ama (canoeing), Kaukau (recreational use) and Ruku Kaimoana (seafood gathering).

 

Kneed I go on

 

The request was for a translation but into what was knot specified. I would not have attemped Chinese, Arabic etc at all and loath to attempt French or Spannish as I am very rusty and not any good at either anyway.

 

So I went for simplicity; condensing 154 pages of technical and political jargon into a mere 5 lines, say 100 words without counting, and doing it unpaid, without koha etc etc. into, one of many, common NZ ways of speaking. I have no knowledge of where Willow lives, his/her enthicity, verbal or written language skills or intelligence.

 

Racist? I think knot . Perhaps I just identified factors that struck me as I read through

 

Have you read the documents You may well identify other factors that appeal to you or strike you in other ways.

 

Where is your translation

 

What factors struck you

[Guest]

Must say that when we were in GH there was a fisherman cutting bait next to us and I was astounded and the amount, size and variety of sealife that was attracted. All living happily in the marina.

[PaulR 3]

What I am also concerned about is the OFFICIAL GOVERNMENTAL comment:

 

"animals were being exposed to AFPs"

 

So should we contact the Police or SPCA or WINZ about those as yet unnamed individuals who are antifouling "animals" who by definition only live on land, never in the sea.

 

Piss-taking Who me How could I when I used official terms e.g. hui

 

Actually the first stage is to keep using copper but remove / substitute the other toxins.

 

CO: even had a jelly fish swimming around in Westhaven last night and this was BEFORE we had any drinks.

[wheels 543]

Interestingly I have a copper strip dangling in the water off my boat doing some testing. It is covered in growth. If copper isn't supposed to allow stuff to grow on it, then I can't quite work that one out. Interestingly I thought, so if pure copper does not stop growth, then that rules out the copper/epoxy coatings working.

So does copprous oxide "work" differently to pure copper? I suggest the copper may not actually be the component doing the most work. Perhaps even the paints with more copper content are not actually better because of their copper content. Maybe it is the type and content of other biocides that is doing the work.

So in my view, banning copper is not the full answer. Banning current anti-foul paints would be a better answer, for the EPA that is, but may not be a better answer for the environment and certainly not for boat owners. So far from what I have read and heard, the actual tests carried out have been on copper content in the water. No one has tested fro the specific biocides used...at least as far as I know.

Which brings me to another point. Copper can be found in Saltwater naturally and certainly on Seabeds just like any other part of the land. Has any of the testing been concidering possible natural traces of copper??

[armchairadmiral 411]

At our Marina the wildlife is prolific, so our copper must be different! Most of the ships coming and going are covered in TBT anti - fouling.In fact one ship probably has enough TBT to paint every boat in the Marina.But "Big Brother Bureaucracy" can't get at them But he can get us.You know.."I'm from the Government and I'm here to help"..To which I add "help himself. We are under threat from all facets of Government as they chip away at the public freedom.Next up ,if we don't kick up ,will be a "fee" like the (failed) Carbon Tax,to fund another bureaucracy.

[wheels 543]

I have said this before in the past. In the days of TBT, the marina's were barren waste lands. Then when copper came in, the Marina's slowly cleaned up. Today they are a little marine wonder land. So where does the EPA actually get the info that copper kills everything??

From another angle, the TBT days had clean hulls. Nothing and I mean nothing grew on them. Dang did we have some good boot topping in those days. But today, hulls still with plenty of coating on them still foul up. So seeing as the Hull itself is dense in a copper coating and yet it fouls, how is a trace amount in the water and issue??

Just my thoughts.

[wheels 543]

Oh and another we bit of useless or maybe in this case not so useless info. Has anyone noticed that many shell fish don't have Red blood?? Animals with Red blood have Hemoglobin. Hemoglobin is made from Iron and is what carries oxygen around in the blood. But shell fish have Bluegreen blood. That is because their blood has Hemocyanin to carry around the oxygen and Hemocyanin is copper.