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San Diego Mooring Company Barge Showcases Eco-Friendly Hull Paint

Tuesday, 17 January 2012
Contact: Dale Frost (619) 686-6461

San Diego Mooring Company's 42-foot work barge – the Tracy Ann – now sports an eco-friendly paint on its hull, supporting the Port of San Diego's efforts to preserve marine life and water quality by reducing copper pollution in San Diego Bay.

Being environmentally proactive, San Diego Mooring Company selected a paint for the bottom of the Tracy Ann that is copper-free. When the barge was recently hauled out to be repainted, the company decided to try out one of the new wave of anti-fouling paints that protect boat hulls from barnacles and other organisms without polluting the water.

The barge – and its new paint – was launched back into San Diego Bay on December 21, 2011 at Knight and Carver, a boatyard located in the Port member city of National City.

The Tracy Ann is a derrick barge that transits San Diego Bay five days a week, transporting maintenance crews to the boat mooring areas near Shelter Island, the North Embarcadero and the Coronado roadstead.

Greg Boeh, general manager of San Diego Mooring Co., said the company wants to be an environmental leader and that "going green" with eco-friendly hull paint is the right thing to do.

"It sets the stage for my children and grandchildren to be able to enjoy a clean bay," said Boeh. "It also appeals to our environmentally conscious customers and assists us in keeping our business viable."

Anti-fouling hull paints are widely used by boat owners, because they help prevent the growth of barnacles and other organisms, commonly referred to as "fouling." Fouling can decrease a boat's performance, increase its fuel consumption, and can potentially damage the boat hull itself. Copper-based anti-fouling paints are the most common paints used today.

In 1996, the San Diego Regional Water Quality Control Board found high levels of dissolved copper in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin. As a result, they developed a regulatory order that requires the Port, marinas and yacht clubs, hull cleaners and boaters to reduce copper pollution in the Shelter Island Yacht Basin by up to 76 percent by 2022. This regulation identified copper-based anti-fouling paints as a major source of copper pollution.

An environmental steward of San Diego Bay, the Port has established several programs to minimize its environmental footprint, as well as to protect San Diego Bay and the surrounding land. The Port developed its Copper Reduction Program to address copper pollution bay-wide and conduct on-going research on eco-friendly hull paints. The Port is supportive of the copper reduction efforts made by others.

"The Port of San Diego is working with the Port tenants in efforts to reduce the amount of copper in the marina basin and improve the water quality of San Diego Bay," Port Commissioner Scott Peters.

• Learn about the Port's Copper Reduction Program

Along with instituting a copper reduction program, the Port of San Diego has also established programs to improve air quality, promote energy conservation and protect endangered species around San Diego Bay and the surrounding tidelands.

The Port of San Diego was created by the state Legislature in 1962. Since then, it has invested $1.7 billion in public improvements in its five member cities: Chula Vista, Coronado, Imperial Beach, National City and San Diego.

The Port oversees two maritime cargo terminals, a cruise ship terminal, 17 public parks, various wildlife reserves and environmental initiatives, the Harbor Police Department and the leases of more than 600 tenant and sub-tenant businesses around San Diego Bay.