[Coral-List] effect of sunscreen on corals

Bill Allison allison.billiam at gmail.com
Wed Feb 6 08:43:07 UTC 2019


I was thinking of sunscreens as one of many insults afflicting the
microlayer ecosystem, and how important that ecosystem is.

On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 10:38 PM Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
wrote:

> Good point!  Many or most coral eggs float so they would be in the surface
> microlayer, slicks of coral eggs on the surface on the Great Barrier Reef
> are large enough you can follow them for a while from airplanes.  I would
> guess that sunscreens float, but I don't know.  But most areas small enough
> to be contaminated significantly by sunscreens are not very likely to be
> self-seeding, especially for the majority of corals that are broadcast
> spawners.  Still would be an impact on overall coral reproduction, though
> given that the areas that have large numbers of tourists with sunscreen in
> the water are minute compared to the world reef area, especially in the
> Indo-Pacific, which of course is most of the world's reefs, the effect
> would be pretty small, probably difficult to measure I would guess.  Maybe
> higher in an area like the Caribbean where tourism is large on many islands.
> Cheers,  Doug
>
> On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 2:05 PM Bill Allison <allison.billiam at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>
>> It strikes me that sunscreens will tend to float as will toxins seeping
>> into the sea from freshwater lenses and fogging pesticides in diesel
>> carriers, all of which will be harmful to organisms in the surface
>> microlayer.
>> Wurl, O. and J. P. Obbard (2004). "A review of pollutants in the
>> sea-surface microlayer (SML): a unique habitat for marine organisms."
>> Marine Pollution Bulletin 48(11-12): 1016-1030.
>> Abstract
>> Boundary layers between different environmental compartments represent
>> critical interfaces for biological, chemical and physical processes. The
>> sea-surface microlayer (uppermost 1-1000 lm layer) forms the boundary layer
>> interface between the atmosphere and ocean. Environmental processes are
>> controlled by the SML, and it is known to play a key role in the global
>> distribution of anthropogenic pollutants. Due to its unique chemical
>> composition, the upper organic film of the SML represents both a sink and a
>> source for a range of pollutants including chlorinated hydrocarbons,
>> organotin compounds, petroleum hydrocarbons, polycyclic aromatic
>> hydrocarbons (PAH) and heavy metals. These pollutants can be enriched in
>> the SML by up to 500 times relative to concentrations occurring in the
>> underlying bulk water column. The SML is also a unique ecosystem, serving
>> as an important habitat for fish eggs and larvae. Concentration ranges and
>> enrichment factors of pollutants in the SML in different areas of the
>> world's oceans have been critically reviewed, together with available
>> toxicity data for marine biota found within the SML. Overall, the SML is
>> highly contaminated in many urban and industrialized areas of the world,
>> resulting in severe ecotoxicological impacts. Such impacts may lead to
>> drastic effects on the marine food web and to fishery recruitment in
>> coastal waters. Studies of the toxicity of fish eggs and larvae exposed to
>> the SML contaminants have shown that the SML in polluted areas leads to
>> significantly higher rates of mortality and abnormality of fish embryos and
>> larvae.
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 5:17 PM Risk, Michael via Coral-List <
>> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>>
>>> Hi Doug.
>>>
>>> I find this screed by Terry to be deeply disappointing. Not only is it
>>> scientifically misleading, it epitomizes an attitude all too common among
>>> reef biologists, namely: "the most important stress on coral reefs is the
>>> one on which I am personally working." This attitude prompted my by-now
>>> ancient paper, Paradise Lost-not only has little changed since then, it
>>> seems things are even worse.
>>>
>>> Now, to the science.
>>>
>>> I urge you all to read one of the key papers, Downs et al 2016 Arch Env
>>> Contam Toxic 70: 265. It is simply not true that authors bathed their
>>> corals in unrealistically high concentrations of oxybenzone, nor is it true
>>> they lack real-world data. They report high concentrations of oxybenzone in
>>> VI waters, along with zero coral recruitment. This stuff is death to coral
>>> larvae, at unbelievably low concentrations.
>>>
>>> We need here to beware of some sort of false dichotomy. No one is
>>> saying, forego sunscreens. American readers will be surprised (or not) to
>>> learn that Europe banned the use of the known carcinogen oxybenzone in
>>> sunscreens, but American companies were allowed to get away with it. The
>>> research mentioned above has come under heavy criticism from the chemical
>>> industry in the US, quelle surprise. The answer is quite simple: avoid
>>> sunscreens that contain oxybenzone.
>>>
>>> Criticisms of the research seem based not so much on genuine scientific
>>> issues as some sort of zero-sum game attitude, that attention to sunscreen
>>> will detract from whatever flavour of the month turns your particular
>>> crank. This is a small thing we can all do for reefs whilst still working
>>> on the big things.
>>>
>>> Full disclosure: Craig Downs is a friend of mine, and in my opinion a
>>> brilliant scientist.
>>>
>>> Mike
>>> ________________________________________
>>> From: Coral-List [coral-list-bounces at coral.aoml.noaa.gov] on behalf of
>>> Douglas Fenner via Coral-List [coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov]
>>> Sent: February 5, 2019 1:18 AM
>>> To: coral list
>>> Subject: [Coral-List] effect of sunscreen on corals
>>>
>>> There's insufficient evidence your sunscreen harms coral reefs.
>>>
>>> By Terry Hughes
>>>
>>>
>>> https://theconversation.com/theres-insufficient-evidence-your-sunscreen-harms-coral-reefs-109567
>>>
>>> Open-access.
>>>
>>> Cheers,  Doug
>>>
>>> --
>>> Douglas Fenner
>>> Ocean Associates, Inc. Contractor
>>> NOAA Fisheries Service
>>> Pacific Islands Regional Office
>>> Honolulu
>>> and:
>>> Consultant
>>> PO Box 7390
>>> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>>>
>>> How to win public support for a global carbon tax
>>>
>>> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00124-x
>>>
>>> Global warming will happen faster than we think.
>>>
>>> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07586-5
>>>
>>> Nations falling short of emissions cuts set by Paris climate pact,
>>> analysis
>>> finds
>>>
>>>
>>> http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/nations-falling-short-emissions-cuts-set-paris-climate-pact-analysis-finds?utm_campaign=news_daily_2018-11-28&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=2515903
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> Coral-List mailing list
>>> Coral-List at coral.aoml.noaa.gov
>>> https://coral.aoml.noaa.gov/mailman/listinfo/coral-list
>>>
>>
>
> --
> Douglas Fenner
> Ocean Associates, Inc. Contractor
> NOAA Fisheries Service
> Pacific Islands Regional Office
> Honolulu
> and:
> Consultant
> PO Box 7390
> Pago Pago, American Samoa 96799  USA
>
> How to win public support for a global carbon tax
>
> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-019-00124-x
>
> Global warming will happen faster than we think.
>
> https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-018-07586-5
>
> Nations falling short of emissions cuts set by Paris climate pact,
> analysis finds
>
>
> http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/11/nations-falling-short-emissions-cuts-set-paris-climate-pact-analysis-finds?utm_campaign=news_daily_2018-11-28&et_rid=17045989&et_cid=2515903
>
>


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