Underwater junk out of sight out mind.

[RTBCAT]

In the last three months I have seen three marine batteries on the bottom have only managed to get one back only because it was not too deep and close to shore. The other two are at about 70 feet try and find a battery again in 20 foot vis. Location Wyte Cliff and Porteau cove BC. It seems you almost have to go diving with a garbage bag and be prepared to lift heavy objects.

 

[mempilot]

That would make a nice easy salvage job with a small lift bag. I love bringing up anchors, but at least they look like they belong on the bottom. Batteries are a strange thing to throw overboard since they are considered HAZMAT. I'm sure the penalty would be pretty stiff for the guy if he got caught dumping them.

 

[DennisS]

Times change. I'm sure the coast guard would levy a heavy fine for dumping hazmat. It used to be that all the lights in the keys were surrounded by batteries that the CG had dumped over the years.

 

[archman]

It used to be that all the lights in the keys were surrounded by batteries that the CG had dumped over the years.

You wouldn't happen to (roughly) know how recently that was still going on, would you?

 

[RogerL.]

I'm almost afraid to ask! You'd think that of all the people out there they would have the knowledge to avoid such practices. Here's hopin that's a thing of the past. I know, maybe all those CG guys should learn to dive and make retreiving those batteries there first task.

 

[diverrick]

After just getting back from Blackbird Cay in Belize, I have to add that there is ALOT of dumping going on out there. Not from the resorts mind you, but off shore. I was told that is was from passing freighters, but I looked at the make up of the garbage and saw shampoo, condtioners, lipgloss, anti persirant, toothpaste, flipflops Etc. Not the stuff That wuold be thrown from a frieghter. I have to sumise it came from passing cruise ships, not frieghters. The resort did a bang up job in keeping it's shoreline clean as a whistle everyday, but go away from the property boundarys, ands there is a line of garbage 4 feet wide, along the waterline as far as the eye can see. Kinda sad, considering your on an atoll out in the middle of nowhere in the Carribean. I shudder to think of what they threw over that was heavier than the floating trash that came ashore, like batteries.

 

[archman]

Well, the Coast Guard must've stopped dumping batteries at least several years back, as I snorkeled the American Shoals lighthouse back in '99 and didn't see any. Never seen so many houndfish as at that place... two foot long needlefish are plain unnatural.

 

[FredT]

You wouldn't happen to (roughly) know how recently that was still going on, would you?

Back in the early-90s I was installing weather stations in the keys with oceanographic packages in bottom mounts. In the process of doing surveys of several light structures the preferred location of the cable drop to the sea floor was obscured by used lead-acid battery carcassses, so I took photos to show what had to be moved (NOT removed) in order to trench for the cable placement.

Apparently these photos got passed around up to the Admiral in charge of the USCG because the order went out for the strike teams to remove all battery carcasses previously disposed of at A to N locations nationwide. The USCG Strike Teams spent the next 3 years picking up the "litter".

Of course this was a total waste of effort in an environmental sense since the cells were broken to remove the acid and lead in seawater quickly develops a blinding oxide film that stops further leaching. Perhaps it was a case of PR preening, or simply a case of admiral not really having a clue. Any battery that has been submerged in seawater for a monyth has done all the leaching it's ever going to do! Some of these even had large healthy corals growing IN them!

FT

 

[RogerL.]

mess was cleaned up. I'd be suprised if a battery left underwater wouldn't continue to leach off lead although small amounts. Just the same it's good to hear that for what ever the reason they did do the right thing. As far as those cruise ships, I know there's been issues made of their practice of dumping at sea before. They don't like the bad publicity but most continue to dump in what they consider international waters. I'll bet if enough people made a stink about it something could be done. IMHO, Roger

 

[archman]

Wow Fred, once again you've single-handedly made an impact on environmental quality, if only to get inert battery cases removed. They'd still be an eyesore, I suppose.

Regarding cruise ships, they have enormous political clout. Many have tried to take their shifty environmental practices to task, most have failed. The big cruise ship reformation bill was shot down in Congress last year, despite heated opposition from states like California that have a long checkered history with the ships. Places like Maine and Alaska gave up on the federal government and have their own stringent regulations, but their power doesn't extend beyond state waters. Among Caribbean nations, cruise ships have almost a free hand in dumping wastes wherever they like. The nations are too dependent on the foreign currency to impose much (if any) regulation. I've done a ton of research on the industry over the last year, and am horrified about how much waste they produce (and often dump overboard). You might try looking up some of the environmental watchdog groups like the Ocean Conservancy or Blue Water Action to see some reports. They're not entirely free of bias, but most of what they report I've been able to corroborate from other sources. There's also a nice section in the recently released Ocean Commissions report on cruise ship pollution; it's pretty solid data. Unfortunately many legislators do a bang-up job hiding this information from the public.