[Coral-List] effect of sunscreen on corals

[Luiz Rocha]

Two clarifications:

1. Ehsan: Nobody is recommending that people stop using sunscreen
altogether, only that they stop using sunscreen that damages coral. There
are other sunscreen brands that don't damage coral, and guess what, they
come in plastic bottles, are made in chemical factories that
dump countless amount of waste in the environment, their shipment around
the planet participate in the pollution of the air, encourage
non-responsible behaviour by humans, etc… Oh, and they are more expensive
than "normal" brands.

2. Nicole: I don't know if you are noticing this, but we are going down the
same road that land based conservation has. "Green washing" at it's best.
The scuba diving industry is all aboard when it comes to banning sunscreen,
but their open-water diving courses are shorter with every new revision and
the divers are ever more unprepared. I am willing to bet my scientific
career that damage by divers with bad buoyancy control impacts visited
reefs much more than sunscreen does or ever will. And you never hear a peep
from the diving industry about their carbon footprint, but being a diver
tourist has to have the highest carbon footprint of any type of tourism:
The amount of fossil fuel burned on boats and energy spent to
make/buy/transport/fill tanks is extraordinary, and in all my travels I
have never ever seen a dive shop with even a solar panel. Not one. In the
mean time, they consider themselves green for supporting a ban on
sunscreen. It just blows my mind. Just like Hilton hotels considering
themselves "green" for putting a sign in their bathroom saying that they
will only wash your towel if you throw it on the floor.

I guess my problem is that I've been doing field work non-stop since the
early 1990s, and seeing the decline with my own eyes I truly think we are
running out of time to save these things. So worrying about a scratch when
you have a gushing aorta simply will not help, especially when treating the
scratch is often used as an excuse for not worrying about the aorta just
yet.

Luiz

*Luiz A. Rocha, PhD*
Associate Curator and Follett Chair of Ichthyology
California Academy of Sciences
p. 415.379.5370
f.  415.379.5731
LRocha at calacademy.org
Academic Website
<https://www.calacademy.org/staff/ibss/ichthyology/luiz-a-rocha>

55 Music Concourse Drive
Golden Gate Park
San Francisco, CA 94118

Twitter <https://twitter.com/CoralReefFish> | Instagram
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On Mon, Feb 11, 2019 at 12:56 PM Ehsan KAYAL via Coral-List <
coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:

> Dear folks,
>
> Allow me to provide a non-ecologist's point of view to the issue. I believe
> the premise of the question is wrong and reflects a reductionist view of
> the world that scientists have adopted. The debate seems to be whether
> banning sunscreen is a good idea or not, based on the assumption that the
> potential harm of the use of sunscreen by a few thousands tourists on the
> health of corals has not been proven yet. But does it mean that banning
> sunscreen is a bad idea? I believe not, because sunscreens are one symptom
> of the disease of our society that can be summarized as consumerism.
> Sunscreens come in plastic bottles, are made in chemical factories that
> dump countless amount of waste in the environment, their shipment around
> the planet participate in the pollution of the air, encourage
> non-responsible behaviour by humans, etc… Therefore, the question of
> reducing, if not forbidding the use of sunscreen is of course a good step
> forward for corals and the planet, regardless of the other efforts made in
> parallel. And reusable sunhats and lightweight clothing are some great
> alternatives for skin protection at the beach.
>
> Cheers,
>
> E
> ___________________________________
> Ehsan Kayal, PostDoc
> Station Biologique de Roscoff
> FR 2424 CNRS UPMC
> Place Georges Teissier
> CS 90074
> 29688 Roscoff Cedex
> tel: (+33)298295646
> ehsan.kayal at sb-roscoff.fr
> ________________________________
>
> This conversation is most likely monitored by the government
>
> "the road to truth involves a certain amount of diarrhoea" Nir Rosen
>
>
>
> On Mon, 11 Feb 2019 at 18:16, Nicole Crane via Coral-List <
> coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
>
> > Well said Mike R. We NEED rigorous science, but we NEED action perhaps
> more
> > at this moment. If we had been a bit less cautious and a bit more
> activist
> > about climate change we may have been in a slightly better place now. But
> > scientists are often reluctant to say what they ‘feel’ (aka know), for
> fear
> > the critics out there might get hot. Of course we can’t know the full
> > effect of sunscreen ingredients on reefscapes. But if we know it’s bad at
> > any level why not take action? I disagree that it takes away from the
> > ‘real’ problems. To the contrary more laypeople may actually be paying
> > attention because they use sunscreen. That may actually draw attention to
> > bigger issues.
> >
> > It’s almost like arguing with climate change deniers about why climate
> > change is real. Drop it. That argument clearly isn’t working for some.
> > Instead we CAN talk about coral reef degradation and why, Regardless the
> > cause, we need to take action...
> >
> > Why not at least try and ban all things that harm coral reefs? Need to
> > start somewhere and from multiple angles.
> > Cheers all
> > Nicole
> >
> > On Sat, Feb 9, 2019 at 6:04 AM Mike Jankulak - NOAA Affiliate via
> > Coral-List <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov> wrote:
> >
> > > Listers, this morning there was another blank post from Mike Risk, the
> > > original of which I now forward to you in full, unedited. This one had
> > > different headers from the others so I'd hoped the software would be
> > kinder
> > > to it, but it seems I hoped in vain. The very weird thing is that
> Mike's
> > > first post on Tuesday came through without problem so whatever is
> > > triggering this, it is intermittent.
> > >
> > > Enough from Mike J+, here now I bring you Mike R.
> > >
> > > ---------- Forwarded message ----------
> > > From: "Risk, Michael" <riskmj at mcmaster.ca>
> > > To: Douglas Fenner <douglasfennertassi at gmail.com>
> > > Cc: coral list <coral-list at coral.aoml.noaa.gov>
> > > Bcc:
> > > Date: Sat, 9 Feb 2019 01:34:19 +0000
> > > Subject: Re: [Coral-List] effect of sunscreen on corals
> > > Doug:
> > >
> > > This whole thread has been full of straw men and hidden agendas. Allow
> me
> > > to mow just a couple of the straws.
> > >
> > > Craig Downs did NOT say sunscreens were a greater threat to coral reefs
> > > than climate change. The NYT reporter said that. (I asked Craig
> > > specifically about that quote, because it was so obviously untrue.)
> > >
> > > None of us is responsible for what spin the media choose to put on our
> > > research.
> > >
> > > I hope to heaven that managers don’t make policy from reading
> magazines.
> > > (Wait…given the evidence, maybe they do.)
> > >
> > > HUGE strawman alert: No one, as far as I know, has claimed that banning
> > > oxybenzone will save reefs. What some have suggested is: banning this
> > stuff
> > > is easy, so why not do it. The argument that focussing on oxybenzone
> will
> > > divert attention from “more serious” problems is an exercise in “Look!
> > > Squirrel"-ism. (I wish it to be noted that I was the first to coin this
> > new
> > > noun.)
> > >
> > > Then there are the usual meeching “objections”, like: "we need more
> > > research." Lord love a duck. Find me ANY field where that could not be
> > > said. These are comments generally made by people who (a) haven’t read
> > the
> > > research or (b) don’t like attention being diverted from their
> favourite
> > > area.
> > >
> > > And finally: this isn’t about fish.
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > > ps-to my few remaining friends out there, re those blank messages: no,
> I
> > > wasn’t being censored by the -list. In fact, management tried their
> best,
> > > but there were formatting errors beyond my ageing analog brain.
> > >
> > >
> > > On Feb 8, 2019, at 1:56 PM, Douglas Fenner <
> douglasfennertassi at gmail.com
> > >
> > > wrote:
> > >
> > > Mike,
> > >     It didn't take any digging to read that less than one-page piece on
> > > Downs' website, it was featured on the home page.  The scientific
> article
> > > is a bit different, 24 pages long.  The introduction does refer to many
> > > studies on oxybenzone which found damaging effects at some
> concentration
> > on
> > > a wide variety of organisms,scary stuff, obviously real, some in
> > temperate
> > > waters, essentially none corals, and no effects on corals in the ocean
> > > other than inside plastic bags (if I got that right).  The decisions
> > about
> > > management are made by government people who will be unlikely to wade
> > > through the scientific paper.  The general public and perhaps managers
> > will
> > > be the main readers of the website.  I reread that web page and I see
> > > nothing that indicates it is talking about local areas.  You have the
> > > advantage of having read the scientific paper, which the public will
> not
> > > have read, so you know he's talking about local effects, quite
> > > appropriately.  It is surely just a inadvertent error to not have made
> > > clear on that web page that he's talking about very small areas
> compared
> > to
> > > the world's coral reefs.  Sorry I hadn't caught that, but if he doesn't
> > > want the general public or government people considering regulations or
> > > rules to misinterpret it as I did and think he's talking about the
> whole
> > > world's reefs, he might want to add that.  That has been my main point.
> > > The web article, taken literally, says that the effect of sunscreens is
> > > greater than bleaching, and for the general public I still think that
> > will
> > > mislead them, however unintentional it may be.  The web page does not
> > refer
> > > to the original scientific article, it refers to the New York Times
> > > article.  So my concern is about the general public, government, and
> any
> > > scientists who are not reading the toxicology literature, who could
> > > misinterpret that web page.
> > >       My views on whether sunscreens threaten the world's reefs or are
> > > limited to small local areas are unchanged.  I think a lot of people
> have
> > > jumped to the conclusion that they are a big threat to the world's
> reefs,
> > > hence my comments on that.
> > >       If there are hundreds of people working on the effects of
> > sunscreens
> > > on corals, they must have started working on it very recently, unless
> > I've
> > > missed a huge number of new papers.  I know of only 4 papers published
> on
> > > the effects of oxybenzone on corals so far, the Downs article, one by
> > > Danovero, and two by He.  Perhaps the hundreds of studies are mostly
> > about
> > > organisms other than corals.  I am not in contact with research in
> > progress
> > > on this topic, perhaps new papers will all replicate this finding.
> Even
> > if
> > > a paper has not proved something to everyone's satisfaction, that
> doesn't
> > > mean its conclusions are wrong, further work may confirm them.  But
> wait
> > a
> > > minute, if there are hundreds of people working on the effects of
> > > sunscreens on corals, that takes some serious funding and involves a
> lot
> > of
> > > researchers.  Or is it hundreds of people working on the effects of
> > > oxybenzone on all sorts of things but a much smaller number working on
> > the
> > > effects on corals?  The funding that has to be spent on hundreds of
> > people
> > > studying can't be spent on other things, the real, big threats to coral
> > > reefs.  Same for the researcher time, effort and ingenuity.  All spent
> on
> > > one of the most trivial threats to coral reefs instead of one of the
> more
> > > important threats.  That is a zero-sum game for reef research, and if
> > > hundreds of people are working on a trivial threat, that's an effort
> and
> > > expense that could much better be spent on an important threat to coral
> > > reefs.  That's the principle of triage, the high priority threats are
> the
> > > ones you put your most effort into, unless you don't mind losing your
> > > patient.
> > >       I have always supported using the precautionary principle, which
> > for
> > > me comes up most often with fisheries.  I am safe in supporting it, no
> > risk
> > > anyone is going to implement it.  Nobody is going to use the
> > precautionary
> > > principle with reef fisheries, you'd have to shut down all the world's
> > reef
> > > fisheries.  Locally, there are reef fish stock assessments done quite a
> > > while ago (led by Jerry Ault) that show clearly that several predatory
> > reef
> > > fish species in Florida are overfished.  Yet to my knowledge there has
> > been
> > > NO management efforts by the state or local government to restrict
> > fishing
> > > even enough to bring stocks up to maximum sustainable yield (MSY).
> That
> > is
> > > a known local damaging effect on reef ecosystems which Key West, the
> > state,
> > > and other jurisdictions have not applied the precautionary principle
> to.
> > > There may be others that Key West has not tackled, I certainly haven't
> > > heard that they have a plan to bring their greenhouse gas emissions way
> > > down.  Why not??  Because there would be huge public and corporate
> outcry
> > > and likely they'd get booted out in the next election.  Classic case
> (as
> > > with nearly everywhere else) of treating the scratch while letting the
> > > patient die to a gun shot wound to the chest.  It is possible that any
> > and
> > > all fishing, which kills and removes reef fish, damages the reef
> > > ecosystem.  Commonly, we focus on "overfishing" but in fact fishing
> that
> > is
> > > less than Maximum Sustainable Yield may also damage the reef ecosystem,
> > > though presumably less so.  A myriad of other things humans do probably
> > or
> > > in some cases, clearly do, damage coral reef ecosystems, few of which
> are
> > > regulated or banned under the "precautionary principle."  Walking on
> reef
> > > flats to glean or even do research damages them.  Divers damage them,
> > we've
> > > all broken a coral from time to time.  Snorkelers do as well.  Small
> > boats
> > > do damage by anchoring or running aground.  There are a myriad of major
> > > damages from people on land, sediment, nutrients, etc.  Then there is
> > > releasing all those greenhouse gases into the atmosphere, cutting
> > forests,
> > > and on and on.  Sunscreens are low hanging fruit, easy to ban those
> with
> > > particular chemicals in them as a precautionary approach.  Will it make
> > > much difference and will we be as zealous tackling the things that
> really
> > > threaten worldwide reefs?  (if not, it is not your fault, Mike, we all
> > want
> > > to reduce human impacts, but for most such things the opposition is
> > > enormous.  Which is why we have been losing for so long.)  So in
> effect,
> > > this ban on sunscreens is re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic,
> a
> > > feel-good exercise, in my opinion.
> > >      I just realized that the precautionary principle can be in
> conflict
> > > with triage.  The scratch on the hand might get infected, so take the
> > > precautionary approach and treat it.  But if you do that, you may not
> > treat
> > > the gunshot wound to the chest at the same time (unless you have lots
> of
> > > medical staff), and the patient will die very quickly.  Our problem is
> > our
> > > patient is dying and we are vastly underfunded and understaffed, so
> what
> > > are we going to do, treat the scratch while the reef dies?
> > >      Sorry, I tend to think banning oxybenzone is a feel-good exercise
> > that
> > > will not make a dent in saving world reefs.
> > >       Cheers,  Doug
> > >
> > > On Tue, Feb 5, 2019 at 1:10 PM Risk, Michael <riskmj at mcmaster.ca>
> wrote:
> > > Doug.
> > >
> > > You are correct, that post is far too long-especially as you could have
> > > read the freakin paper in the length of time it took you to compose
> it. I
> > > had expected better from you.
> > >
> > > You have dug into Downs' website and quote-mined from an article which
> > was
> > > clearly discussing local stresses. We scientists don't go by blog
> posts,
> > we
> > > go by the literature. To save you the trouble, here is a quote: "BP-3
> > > contamination from beaches can travel over 0.6 km in distance from the
> > > pollution source. The threat of BP-3 to corals and coral reefs from
> > > swimmers and point and non-point sources of waste-water could thus be
> far
> > > more extensive than just a few meters surrounding the swimming area."
> > Sound
> > > reasonable? And, if I can read that paper and understand it, so can
> you.
> > >
> > > This is a large field, with by now a voluminous literature. Those to
> > whom I
> > > have talked have always said, this is a local problem, one that may be
> > > larger than we had thought-and it's easy to fix. What is wrong with
> > that??
> > > What is wrong with those who would challenge that?
> > >
> > > I am also disappointed that you managed to slide in the suggestion that
> > > Craig's results were coloured by his finances. Doug, there are hundreds
> > of
> > > people working on this! If you are going to chuck around driveby's you
> > will
> > > be very busy. Yes, Craig supports his foundation on donations and
> > > contracts. Please don't go after him for this.
> > >
> > > My original post has only been up for a few hours. Here is one off-line
> > > response I have received, from a well-known reef scientist with 8,000
> > > citations: "This article is really upsetting. Glad you responded. I'm a
> > tad
> > > shocked that Terry wrote this. Seems that ignoring 'precautionary
> > > principles' is what often gets us in these messes in the first place
> and
> > > then its too damn late."
> > >
> > > What's wrong with saying, we can fix this and move on?
> > >
> > > Mike
> > >
> > >
> > > --
> > > 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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> >
> > --
> > Nicole L. Crane
> > Faculty, Cabrillo College
> > Natural and Applied Sciences
> > www.cabrillo.edu/~ncrane
> >
> > Senior Conservation Scientist, Project co-lead
> > One People One Reef
> > onepeopleonereef.ucsc.edu
> > _______________________________________________
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