New study finds evidence of fiberglass in oysters and mussels

boing
1

Originally published at: https://boingboing.net/2024/07/12/new-study-finds-evidence-of-fiberglass-in-oysters-and-mussels.html

…

2 Likes
2

Unexpected? Hardly. Bivalves are filter feeders, they suck up whatever is floating in the water. Fiberglass has been used in boat hulls for how long now? Of course it is in the water, which means it is in the shellfish. Along with all the other inorganic shit we dump there. Don’t blame the shellfish, this is our fault.

11 Likes
3

Contributed by Jennifer Sandlin

5 Likes
4

…showed that GRP, which is used extensively in boat manufacturing, is breaking down and contaminating coastal waters.

I suspect that this is being reported wrongly and the study says no such thing.

This is isn’t a case of a GPR hull floating by and releasing a shower of microplastics.

Rather it’s the repair work that’s the problem, when the hull is being sanded down or drilled into, releasing plastics and glass fibres into the wild. Hence why they found it near a boatyard and in winter. A lot of that could probably be prevented by working indoors and with proper filtration and waste handling. But this will further push boating in the direction of a sport for the rich.

Time to go back to wooden boats. But those, too, cost either a lot of time or a lot of money to keep afloat. Something only the rich have.

4 Likes
5

I don’t think anyone did?

4 Likes
6

So… crazy thing happened here - a building getting refurbished had applied a Styrofoam paneling system, and it was shaved down for contours and whatever.

Around the whole block, tiny Styrofoam dust started clogging the gutters, got blown into the grasses and weeds, stuck to the dirt.

So I phoned the city to complain and they told me to pound sand, the builder is within their rights to do the work they are doing and how they are doing it.

2 years later, there is still fine white granular foam all over the neighborhood. How that builder has more rights to pollute the area than I had to stop it… fucked up.

So concentrated pollutants in the water around a boat repair facility? Like the dirt outside a mechanic’s garage isn’t filled with automotive fluids and urine.

Sometimes the results of these studies aren’t all that surprising.

6 Likes
7

One of the tags I put on the article is “Humans are Destroying the Planet”…

6 Likes
8

This topic was automatically closed after 5 days. New replies are no longer allowed.