Your Boat’s Grey Water is Killing Reefs and Fish // What You Need to Know

On June 14, 2021
By Kimberly

Grey Water

It’s so important for boaters to be aware of toxic chemicals in every product you use on board daily since a lot of those ingredients end up back in the water under the hull through gray water emissions.

More and more, boaters are becoming aware that it’s not only the chemicals in sunscreen, but also the products that they put on their body that can harm the environment. Shampoo, conditioner, body wash, hand sanitizer, lotion – all can contain harmful ingredients.

Other products we boaters use as well can harbor unwanted chemicals. Some cleaners such as laundry detergents and dishwashing soap have harmful ingredients that contribute to bleaching our coral reefs and killing the fish.

While people on land may believe that the water from their shower or dishes never reaches the ocean – it does. We boaters know exactly where our shower water and dishwashing water goes. Right under the boat and into the water.

How Sunscreen Can Be Bad for Boaters and Fish

Sunscreen is a big concern on boats for boaters. Not only do we apply this chemical to our bodies daily if not nearly hourly; it also ends up in the water. When we touch or sit on the boat; the chemicals are transferred to the boat. Then when we wash the boat, the chemicals end up in the water.

Also, spray sunscreens create a lot of overspray which not only finds its way into the water, but also makes the boat slick and dangerous. Most boat rental companies prohibit the use of spray sunscreen for that reason.

As consumers become more ecoconscious, we learn there are a lot of differences between types of sunscreen. One confusing distinction is between “physical” and “chemical” sunscreens. Sometimes you hear of “chemical-free sunscreens.” All sunscreens have chemicals. However, many chemicals are organic. No wonder it’s all confusing!

Banned Toxic Ingredients

The active ingredients in chemical sunscreens might be ones you have heard of that are banned in Bonaiare, Palau, Hawaii, and Key West. They are oxybenzone, octinoxate, octisalate, and avobenzone.

One of those poisons, oxybenzone, has enough toxicity that a single drop of sunscreen in the equivalent of six and a half Olympic-size swimming pools can be enough to cause serious damage to coral according to oceanconservancy.org. That’s why we’re hearing more and more about popular vacation destinations banning toxic sunscreens.

Toxins in sunscreen kill reefs and fish, which is what tourists come to see. No wildlife means no tourism income, so it’s very important to local incomes to protect their natural attractions.

The products that we use while boating to moisturize our skin, shampoo and conditioner our hair, and even body wash also end up directly overboard. That’s why it’s so important that we monitor the ingredients in the products that we use, because plenty of labels are misleading.

Ingredients to Avoid

Oxybenzone, avobenzone, avobenzine, ethylhexl, methoxycinnamate, octinoxate, benzophenone, retinyl palmitate, homosalate, octisalate, octocrylene, nanoparticles and more are related to health concerns. You can read more about how bad those ingredients are here.

These effects range from cancer to allergies, organ system toxicity, and endocrine disruption. A quick scan of ingredients can help you decide if this is something that you want touching your body or entering the ocean.

One company has made it so easy to know if the products you are using are truly “reef friendly” – Stream2Sea. Stream2Sea‘s creator, Autumn Blum, decided to produce natural products safe for fish and humans. On a dive trip to Palau, she noticed that tell-tale sheen on the water from sunscreen and wondered about the effect on marine life.

Blum decided to do something about it, and used her chemist background to formulate sunscreen. Then she saw a need for shampoo and conditioner, then mask defog – and the list continues. Her latest natural and safe products are hand sanitizer and stick sunscreens.

Now you can do something to help the environment, too – use products you have thoroughly researched, or, leave it up to Stream2Sea to supply you with products you have total confidence will not harm the waterways.

Misleading Marketing

It’s concerning that sunscreens routinely feature words on the front of the bottle that can be misleading and downright untruthful. Words like “natural, reefs friendly, environmentally friendly actually don’t have a lot to do with the list of ingredients on the back of the bottle. Turn it over, and check for yourself.

Even when products call themselves “coral safe “or “waterway friendly,“ the astute boater needs to read a bit further and recognize some of the main undesirable ingredients listed on the back.

A Sailboat Captain’s Experience

Working as a boat captain, I see a huge variety of sunscreen brands. It’s always interesting to check out what my sailing school students or charterers bring with them. I like to read what’s on the front, and then look at the back part. It’s absolutely incredible that some brands that we perceive as being very good for us and the environment actually also include those poisonous chemicals.

I found that out the hard way, when I used a sunscreen that I thought was wonderful and I ended up being poisoned by the ingredients! You can read more about that at The Summer I Got Poisoned by Chemical Sunscreen. That experience led me to conduct a lot of research and choose Stream2Sea since their founder, chemist Autumn Blum, creates totally, truly water-safe products. She’s also a scuba diver like me, and I trust her and her natural ingredients and extensive testing and research.

While I have never heard of anyone getting poison from their shampoo, conditioner, body lotion or body wash, since all of those products are washed down the drain; we need to be aware of the chemicals there as well.

Wearable Sunscreen

Boaters also can wear clothing articles to help protect themselves from the sun such as UPF (Ultraviolet Protection Factor) clothing like neck gaiters/face scarf masks, shirts, and hats created from recycled materials. Especially appealing to boaters are wearables made from ghost nets, recycled flip flops, plastic jugs, or other waste material.

Also, boaters can take advantage of the shade from Bimini Tops and overhangs, but sunlight bounces off the water and can still burn you, so wearing sunscreen is still important. These non-chemical sun-shielding methods are very good, as they don’t require putting chemicals on your body.

Now we are learning that even the clothing and hat products that we purchase may have been manufactured in methods that are not eco-sustainable. We are learning a lot more about just how much water it takes to produce an item of clothing, and becoming more aware of our impact on the environment.

Fabric Sustainability and Manufacturing Methods

For clothing, you can look online and research what methods a company uses to produce its material. Avoid the least sustainable fabrics such as polyester, acrylic, conventional cotton, rayon/viscose, and nylon. Look for organic or recycled cotton, organic hemp, organic linen, tencel, rPET- recycled polyester, and Econyl.

Without becoming a fabric junkie, rpeT is created from plastic bottles and uses 35% less water than regular polyester. Tencel is manufactured from wood pulp, a biodegradable plant material. Linen is manufactured from plant flax. Hemp is durable, cooling, and protects the wearer from UV rays. Organic cotton skips the pesticides and chemicals of natural cotton manufacturing. All these fabrics use either less water or mechanics or both; reducing emissions.