How Do Boats Hurt The Marine Ecosystem?
Depends on the boat. Sail is probably totally friendly so far as the propulsion system itself goes, whereas any sort of engine normally introduces emissions – all the oxides of both carbon and nitrogen in the engine exhaust, often on small boats injected directly into the water (although occasionally into the air instead). Add to that, on older engines and also on two-strokes, oil emissions and/or leakage. However it doesn’t end there. Anchoring and mooring can disturb sea beds, and damage shellfish etc. Heavy wash in inland waters and sometimes in estuaries can certainly damage banks, and probably damage the habitats of organisms that live there. Antifouling is usually designed to be toxic – that is how it works – but it gradually dissolves into the water (again that is part of how it works). Much progress has been made in recent decades in designing modern antifoulings that try to minimise the damage to the ecosystem while still doing their job, but we have not yet achieved a perfect
