Latest news with #marineconservation
BBC News
20 hours ago
- General
- BBC News
'We've raised thousands': The pickle-shaped 'janitors' cleaning Filipino reefs
Sea cucumbers, or 'janitors of the sea', scour and clean the seafloor, allowing other animals to thrive. In the Philippines, a group of women stand guard to help them multiply. Aweng Caasi, a 61-year-old widow, often sits for hours in a wooden hut towering over waist-deep waters in Bolinao, a small town some 300km (190 miles) north of the Philippines' capital of Manila. The hut serves as a guard post for fisherfolk protecting a sea ranch filled with sea cucumbers. These unique-looking bulbous brownish-green animals have taken them years to raise. Caasi's late husband, Ka Artem, was the leader of the fisherfolk group in the village of Barangay Victory in Bolinao that worked with scientists to build the ranch almost two decades ago. They hoped to replenish the supplies of these pickle-like creatures, which once swarmed these waters. Today, Caasi carries on this legacy. People in the Philippines have been plucking these chunky, leathery-skinned animals, locally known as balat or balatan, out of the sea for at least a century, and their harvesting in Asia goes back to ancient times. Sea cucumbers are from the same family as starfish and sea urchins, and are popular in East Asia for both culinary and medicinal reasons. In Chinese cuisine, they are even regarded as treasure. A kilogram of the most valuable species of dried sea cucumber, the Japanese Apostichopus japonicus, is valued at an average $1,782 (£1,400). For the Holothuria scabra or sandfish species that the Bolinao ranch produces, prices can vary from $220 to $1080 (£160-790), depending on their size. When Caasi was still in her teens, the Philippines was the top producer of wild sea cucumbers – between 1985 and 1993, it exported some 3,000 to 4,000 tonnes. But overexploitation and overfishing led to a sharp decline in stocks. In the 1980s, fisherfolk in Bolinao and its neighbouring island town Anda were collecting up to 100kg (220lb) of sea cucumbers per person a day. The daily per person catch plummeted to just 25kg (55lb) a decade later, and by 2002, to a measly 2.55kg (5.6lb). The waters around Caasi's home, once crowded with the cucumbers, had become barren. "We don't care much about harvests, since we care more about increasing their population," Caasi tells me as we sit next to each other in the hut, watching over the sea ranch. "When I was a child, I used to see loads of them, but now that I'm older, they've become so little. We want to restore them so they can multiply." Maria Louella Tinio Apart from their economic value, sea cucumbers provide benefits for the environment. Commonly referred to as the janitors of the sea, they clean sediments in the seafloor by eating bacteria and decaying organic matter, and recycle nutrients that benefit ecosystems. Their presence has even recently been found to suppress diseases among corals. Bolinao and its neighbouring towns are known for their rich marine life, which includes a 200 sq km (77 sq mile) coral reef area that provides benefits to residents through shoreline protection, fisheries, aquaculture and tourism. Annette Meñez, a marine invertebrate ecologist at the University of the Philippines Marine Science Institute (UPMSI), reached out to the Bolinao fishing communities in the early 2000s to ask if they would like to try co-designing a system to restore the town's sea cucumbers. Meñez has been researching marine invertebrates with UPMSI since the 1980s, including how to help Bolinao's fishing communities replenish their stocks of sea urchins and giant clams. She also now co-chairs the sea cucumber specialist group of the International Union for Conservation for Nature's Species Survival Commission. The university ventured into sea cucumber conservation when it observed the cucumber population shrinking. Meñez says the fishers back then would harvest small sea cucumbers before they were mature enough to reproduce. "Even if you say we have five animals in one hectare [2.5 acres], they can be easily a few tens of metres apart from the nearest [other member of their] species," says Meñez. Reproduction fails, she says, both due to this small number and the lack of mature individuals. The ideal density of sea cucumbers is 50 individuals per hectare for a viable spawning population – with this number, researchers have observed mass spawning events and the increased presence of wild cucumbers. Caasi and her husband were among those who kicked off the restocking project with Meñez in 2007. Together, they refined the process of migrating the sea cucumbers to the best locations for each phase of their growth. Maria Louella Tinio They start by spawning in the university's hatchery tanks, where the sea cucumbers grow into 4mm (0.16in) larvae, about the size of a rice grain. UPMSI then delivers the larvae to the fisherfolk to nurture in the sea by sticking them to floating hapas or nets, where they can munch on periphyton – algae and other bacteria. When they grow to at least 3g (0.1oz), or the size of a thumb, which takes about 40-60 days, the juveniles graduate from the nets to a one hectare (2.5 acre) ocean nursery to live among fellow sea cucumbers for another three to six months. Afterwards, the farmers release them to the five hectare (12.4 acre) ranch, where they can meet and breed with other animals until they grow to the suitable selling weight of 320g (11oz), which can take over a year. The process is done twice a year, but the length of each cycle varies depending on how quickly the sea cucumbers develop. Throughout the cycle, the farmers participate in the rearing, data-collecting and monitoring of the sea cucumbers. Caasi recalls helping pin down the wooden planks that mark the boundary of the ranch nearly two decades ago. "I experienced guarding the pens at night, and when the tide was low, we would hammer the planks into place," she says. "I also set up the nets, together with other women. A lot of us women would do this work." Only fisherfolk affiliated with the project are allowed to collect sea cucumbers within the boundary. In July 2009, less than two years after the first juveniles were sent out in December 2007, the Bolinao farms recorded significant boosts in sea cucumber stocks. Over a 19-month period, the population had jumped from around 400 to more than 5,500 individual sea cucumbers. The number of reproductively mature adults also climbed from 37 per hectare seven months after the release, to 249 after 19 months, due to mass spawning. As of the latest record in 2024, the ranch has a density of 4,415 sea cucumbers or 883 individuals per hectare, according to UPMSI. Meñez says internal research by UPMSI in 2018-19 showed the process also likely led to additional wild stocks. The researchers did an experiment to see if the cucumbers were producing offspring: in 2018, they stained the tissues of the 74 sea cucumbers released in one of the hatcheries with a dye to distinguish them from any new individuals that appeared. Twenty-one months later, they counted 34 new sea cucumbers that did not bear the stain. Meñez says the larvae of marine invertebrates such as sea cucumbers use chemical cues to find a place to settle and grow into juveniles, and these cues can come from individuals of the same species. She thinks it's likely that the presence of the released adults led to recruitment of new sea cucumbers into the hatchery. As well as observing an increase in sea cucumbers, the farmers saw a rise in the presence of other animals. Gemma Candelario and Marivic Carolino, who raise mangroves in a neighbouring village, started monitoring and guarding cucumbers in their area in 2022. Within two years, they say, they noticed more species of sea cucumbers and fish arriving. "The sea cucumbers would eat waste [cleaning the ecosystem] so that's why more fish would appear," says Candelario. "Some fish would lay eggs in our mangroves and other animals would appear such as crabs and shrimp… So this is a big help for us fisherfolk." Maria Louella Tinio However, extreme weather events such as typhoons would scatter the cucumbers beyond the ranch, delaying harvests, says Candelario and other fisherfolk. There were also poachers from other neighbourhoods. "I once caught someone who was not from our group trying to take our sea cucumbers and I had to reprimand them," says Carolino. "There were some people who, even after telling them off, would leave for a short time but come back the next day." Candelario and Carolino enlisted in the farming project in 2022, but say they have yet to witness a substantial harvest. In fact, between 2008, a year into the programme, and 2018, just 467kg in wet weight (14kg when dried) was collected over 11 harvests. During the peak of sea cucumber farming in the 1980s one person would have been able to collect this in just four days. This entire harvest is worth just $558 (£438) and was split between the 30 or so farmers involved in the project. It's low compared to what farmers can earn from other marine invertebrates in Bolinao, such as the common shrimp, squid and octopus. "It [sea cucumber farming] cannot be their main livelihood because the money is slow," says Wilfredo Uy, director of the Sea Cucumber Research and Development Center at Mindanao State University at Naawan in the southern Philippines. "We promote it as a [supplementary] livelihood." Uy oversees a separate set of sea cucumber farms in Naawan, including a hatchery and ranch the centre has managed with local communities since 2011. Lean harvests are also common in these farms, he says. Maria Louella Tinio Along with storms and poachers, the location of sites can be a factor too, says Jon Altamirano, a sandfish and sea cucumber expert from the Southeast Asian Fisheries Development Center. Altamirano helps communities manage sea cucumber farms in the Philippines' Negros Island: when choosing the farms' locations, he says, communities with their own needs and preferences can sometimes disagree with the best choice based on environmental assessments. He recounts a time his team were pushing for a farm in one particular area of the coast. "We went ahead... with our gadgets and said this is a good site, but nobody in the community would agree to put pens in there," he says. It turned out it was a passing area for boats, where locals would also park the boats in stormy weather, he says. "So you need to have this consensus of traditional knowledge plus your scientific information." Despite the obstacles, though, Altamirano says the benefits of growing sea cucumbers cascade to the wider environment. "The good thing about a sea cucumber sea ranch is that you don't only protect sea cucumbers, [but] the whole ecosystem," he says. "They're protecting the farm, [the] seagrass and everything living in the seagrass." The researchers from all the sea cucumber farms emphasise that the social impact on the communities was their most valuable milestone. "For me resilience is not just resilience of ecosystems," says Meñez. "It has to be the resilience of the coastal communities and the ecosystems they depend on." More like this: • Is this the end for Easter Island's Moai statues? • The houses built to survive typhoons • How sponges help Zanzibar women In January 2025, the provincial government approved an ordinance which officially declared an exclusive sea cucumber reserve for the three fishing villages under the UPMSI restocking programme. The law restricts harvesting or trading sea cucumbers from the area weighing less than 320g (11oz), a ballpark weight for a mature sea cucumber. It also serves as a commitment from the local government to continue financially supporting sea cucumber farming in Bolinao. Women in particular play a big role in the sea cucumber farms. In Negros Island, it is mostly women and children who raise the sea cucumbers, monitor and record their data, scatter them in their ranch and guard them from poachers. In Bolinao, women lead the responsibilities of monitoring the size and weight of the cucumbers, and they guard the sea cucumbers when men, who usually do this, need to do other work. "We do this to make a living to support our children, so our husbands won't shoulder the burden alone," says Carolino. "It's not just the men who can work, because anything the men can do, us women can do as well." When asked why they continue their work despite not yet earning much, several of the farmers told me they feel fulfilled simply by seeing the sea cucumbers grow. "It makes me happy to see the ones I've cared for grow bigger, and to see more of them," says Candelario. "We've raised thousands and we see them clearly during the monitoring period. I can't help but be glad to see how many they've grown to become." Caasi still misses her husband every time she takes her post at the guard house alone, but says she is glad his work will live on. "As my husband used to say, 'No retreat, no surrender'." -- For essential climate news and hopeful developments to your inbox, sign up to the Future Earth newsletter, while The Essential List delivers a handpicked selection of features and insights twice a week. For more science, technology, environment and health stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook, X and Instagram.
CBS News
a day ago
- General
- CBS News
Used oyster shells dumped into water off Connecticut to help restore ecosystem
Fishermen have taken oysters out of the Long Island Sound off Connecticut for generations. But Todd Koehnke and Tim Macklin have made it their mission to dump millions of old shells back in. Oyster beds are critical to a healthy ocean, because they filter water, prevent erosion and provide a home for an estimated 300 different species. In an aquatic circle of life, old shells also provide the ideal surface for baby oysters to latch on and grow — sometimes several to a shell. Koehnke and Macklin's two-person nonprofit, Collective Oyster Recycling and Restoration, is working to help restore the health of Connecticut's overfished oyster beds. In two years, they've put back over 700,000 pounds of oyster shells, Macklin said. "We've been taking it out of the sound for however many, over 100 years, and nobody's really putting it back in," Koehnke said. Their efforts, funded by state grants, are the newest addition to a list of existing restoration programs in most states along the Atlantic Coast and the Gulf. It starts with collecting shells from over 50 Connecticut seafood restaurants that leave them in buckets out back. After that, the shells cure for a year, giving them enough time to kill invasive species so as not to contaminate the Sound. "We just move the shell, really, is what we do, and nature does all of the work," Macklin said. One of the restaurants they collect from is the Oyster Club in Mystic, Connecticut. Chef Renee Toupounce says they serve 4,000 to 6,000 oysters per week — some of the 2 billion oysters that Americans eat every year. "It's important to make sure that you know we are doing our part to help make the world better, make our ecosystem stronger," Toupounce said.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Science
- Yahoo
Discovery of ‘enormous' shark fin a sign of foul play in Atlantic
The recent discovery of a fin from an extremely large shark floating in a Connecticut harbor appears to have been an indication of foul play. The Atlantic Shark Institute explained Sunday that the fin was photographed by Bob Tabor, Harbormaster at Lord's Point in Stonington. 'This photo is the tail fin of either a mako shark or great white shark, both prohibited species,' the Atlantic Shark Institute stated via Instagram. 'They can't be kept for any reason. The distance between the tips on the tail were estimated to be between 36' - 42' – absolutely enormous.' The Institute, implying that the shark was poached and processed at sea, was unable to locate the fin after receiving information from from Tabor. The photo appears to show rope still tied to the shark's tail area. ALSO: Fisherman hardly speechless after rare orca encounter off Hawaii NOAA was contacted and, presumably, an investigation has been launched. This article originally appeared on For The Win: Discovery of 'enormous' shark fin a sign of foul play in Atlantic Solve the daily Crossword
Zawya
2 days ago
- Business
- Zawya
Ocean Ecostructures joins KAUST ScaleX to bring its marine renaturalization technology to Saudi Arabia
Ocean Ecostructures, a Barcelona based startup, is revolutionizing marine conservation with a one-of-a-kind solution in the world that transforms marine infrastructure into vibrant, biodiverse habitats, while generating tangible benefits to marine companies. Using regenerative microreef structures, AI, and ROV-based monitoring systems, the company offers a scalable approach that boosts marine life and delivers measurable ESG impact for clients across sectors such as ports, oil platforms, coastal developments, and energy. Selected from a highly competitive pool of over 550 advanced tech startups worldwide, Ocean Ecostructures earned a place in the prestigious KAUST ScaleX program for its cutting-edge pioneer pioneer technology and strong alignment with Saudi Arabia's Vision 2030 and the Saudi Green Initiative (SGI). The solution directly supports the Kingdom's coastal regeneration efforts and reinforces KAUST's role as a catalyst for science-driven environmental transformation. The ScaleX program, delivered in collaboration with the Ministry of Investment (MISA), Saudi Awwal Bank (SAB), and Open Startup International, will serve as a launchpad for the company's regional expansion, bridging global innovation with local impact. With over 30 customers globally—including major players in the port, oil, construction, and energy sectors—Ocean Ecostructures has already demonstrated strong market traction. The company recently raised €3.5 million from international investors to accelerate its international growth and deployment. Recognized with multiple international awards, Ocean Ecostructures is not only a technological innovator but also a key environmental partner, offering a solution to turn all marine infrastructures into ocean allies and regenerate life where it was once scarce. Ocean Ecostructures technology aligns sustainability and growth, supporting VISION 2030 goals. Recently, the company was awarded the 'Ocean Winds Innovation Challenge' prize, promoted by Ocean Winds. It was also selected, along with 12 other high-impact startups from around the globe, to participate in the Milestone Makers program by the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center. Additionally, the company was semi finalist at Rocketfuel Ptch Competition at LEAP 2025, one of the most important tech fairs held in Riyadh.
Japan Times
3 days ago
- Health
- Japan Times
Japan's top brands get tied up in the great sunscreen debate
If you're heading to Hawaii or another tropical destination abroad this summer, you may notice something unusual about the sunscreen on offer at the local pharmacy. With some jurisdictions choosing to ban certain sunscreens in the name of protecting marine life, more products are being rolled out with 'reef-safe' and 'ocean-friendly' claims. While some bans have been in place for several years, the debate over just how harmful these products are is far from settled. Japan doesn't have any such regulations in place. But Japanese cosmetic giants, whose sunscreens are proving to be immensely popular among foreign consumers looking for lightweight textures, are not entirely immune from the controversy. On one side are marine conservationists, environmentalists and some tourism authorities, who argue that a growing body of research linking certain sunscreen ingredients to coral bleaching is enough to take preventive action. On the other side, cosmetics companies and some scientists say the health benefits of sunscreen, especially in preventing skin cancer, must be weighed against the potential risk to marine life. They also argue that the level of risk that sunscreen poses to coral is minor compared to the broader threat of climate change and warming oceans. Regulatory moves Amid growing awareness of the importance of skin care, demand for sunscreen is on the rise worldwide. According to Fortune Business Insights, the global sun care market was valued at $14.9 billion in 2024, a figure that is projected to grow to $15.5 billion in 2025 and reach $22.3 billion by 2032. Most sunscreens are made from a mix of UV filters, which either absorb or scatter UV rays, as well as chemicals such as stabilizers, fragrances and preservatives. Sunbathers apply sunscreen at a beach in Sydney in April. Amid a debate over sunscreen regulations, some say that bans on ingredients that are hard to find alternatives for may restrict access to effective tools against skin disease. | Reuters In recent years, the potential harm caused by chemicals such as oxybenzone and octinoxate when they wash off the bodies of beachgoers and pollute the ocean has attracted significant attention, leading some jurisdictions to ban them. Instead, those jurisdictions recommend the use of 'mineral' sunscreen, which typically contains zinc oxide and titanium dioxide and is seen as less toxic to the environment. Palau, a Pacific island nation that relies heavily on tourism, led the way by introducing the world's first sunscreen regulations in 2020, banning 10 common ingredients. Hawaii followed suit in 2021, with the U.S. state banning the sale and distribution of any sunscreen containing oxybenzone or octinoxate. Beyond the state-level rules, Maui and the island of Hawaii have adopted stricter regulations, banning any sunscreen that uses an active ingredient other than titanium dioxide and zinc oxide. Similar bans on specific ingredients have been introduced in the U.S. Virgin Islands, parts of Mexico and within Thailand's marine national parks. Japanese authorities allow sunscreens sold and used in the country to contain oxybenzone and octinoxate as long as they are within certain limits. In Palau, discussions within the country's government began after the local Coral Reef Research Foundation published a report in 2017 about Jellyfish Lake, says Orion Cruz, a Washington-based attorney who helped draft Palau's sunscreen regulations. The lake, a World Heritage site, is a popular tourist destination where visitors can swim alongside a swarm of harmless, orange jellyfish. The report highlighted the presence of several sunscreen chemicals in the tissue of jellyfish, as well as a recent decline in the jellyfish population, he says. 'The report did not conclude that the sunscreen chemicals caused that collapse, but they expressed some concern because they found the chemicals in such high concentrations,' Cruz says, noting that the report gave impetus to the adoption of sunscreen regulations in the country. Bleached corals off Thailand's Trat province in May 2024. While bleached corals don't die immediately, they lose the nutrients provided by algae, and eventually die if bleaching continues. | Reuters Cruz says that, before enacting the Responsible Tourism Education Act of 2018, the country's government consulted numerous scientists, including Craig Downs, an ecotoxicologist at Haereticus Environmental Laboratory known for his longtime research on sunscreen pollution. A 2022 opinion paper co-written by Cruz and Downs outlined the harm that sunscreen pollution can cause to marine and freshwater ecosystems, and the need for governments to inspire industry innovations for safer products. 'Sunscreen pollution can be a symptom of unsustainable tourism and coastal development, impacting marine and aquatic resources,' they wrote, adding that it can impact primary production and hurt the viability of offspring. Cruz says that the regulations are 'precautionary' and flexible enough, as they allow chemicals scientifically proven to be harmless to the environment or human health to be removed from the list. In addition to the initial ban of 10 specific ingredients, Palau now bans their derivatives, which are slightly different chemicals in the same classes as the outlawed ones. The government confiscates all sunscreens deemed to be toxic to reefs from tourists upon entry, and retailers selling them can be fined. Industry response The series of regulatory moves has rattled the cosmetics industry, which broadly views the current bans as not backed by sufficient scientific evidence. The U.S. Personal Care Products Council, a powerful trade group for the cosmetics industry, has released statements opposing the bans, advocating instead for 'sound scientific research in policymaking to ensure consumer access to safe, effective sunscreens.' 'Hawaii's legislation banning oxybenzone and octinoxate in sunscreens has raised concerns over the lack of scientific evidence linking sunscreen ingredients to coral reef decline, with other environmental factors like climate change and pollution identified as more significant contributors,' the group says on its website. Tokyo-based Kao, a major cosmetic company that develops and markets sunscreen products, says that the company has complied with regulations in each region and has launched a nonchemical product as well. But Kenkichi Fujii, vice president of regulatory science with the global brand, recalls that the industry was 'stunned' when debate on sunscreen regulations arose in Hawaii around 2018. Kao is a member of the U.S. council as well as similar trade organizations in Japan and Europe. 'It is true that vacationers and sunbathers use sunscreens, which are shed into the ocean,' Fujii says, stressing that the firm's stance is in line with other global makers. 'But they become diluted as they are carried by the waves. So even though their concentrations may increase momentarily, they go down over time.' Coral reefs repeat the bleaching and recovery process according to seasonal changes in ocean temperatures, he says, noting that climate change and a warming ocean are most strongly associated with bleaching, which is happening earlier in the year around the world. 'Our basic stance is that we still have doubts about whether sunscreens cause coral bleaching,' he says. 'We would like to understand the reasoning behind these regulations accurately, explain to consumers the position of our products based on this understanding, and develop products that can be explained from such a position.' Shiseido and Kao are among the Japanese brands that have had to navigate changing regulations over sunscreen amid environmental concerns. | Reuters Shiseido, another major Japanese cosmetic brand, also says that the sunscreens it markets in Hawaii are in compliance with local rules and do not contain banned ingredients. It doesn't sell sunscreen in Palau. 'Shiseido not only complies with safety assurance guidelines and laws and regulations around the world, but has also established its own strict safety assurance standards to confirm the safety of all ingredients in its products and formulate them appropriately,' a spokesperson said. Others are raising concerns about the impact of anti-sunscreen messaging on human health. Kao's Fujii points to the vital role sunscreens have played in preventing severe sunburns and skin cancer, saying that bans on common ingredients that are hard to find alternatives for may restrict access to effective tools against a major public health threat. Compound effects Many Japanese cosmetics companies are conducting independent research to examine the toxicity of sunscreen ingredients on corals. Last year, Kao published findings of a joint study with the University of Tokyo in the journal Science of the Total Environment. In the study, the team exposed a coral species called Acropora tenuis collected from the reef off Sesoko Island in Okinawa to oxybenzone for 96 hours. All of the coral fragments were dead at the 24-hour mark when the chemical's concentration was 5.6 milligrams per liter, but none died at lower concentrations. Based on the results, the concentration that had harmful effects to 50% of the test corals — a benchmark used in toxicity tests — was calculated to be 2.0 mg per liter, more than 1,000 times the highest concentration reported in a 2013 study that sampled actual seawater in Okinawa. Also, through RNA sequencing, they found that corals showed different 'gene expression' patterns when responding to higher ocean temperatures and to higher concentrations of oxybenzone. 'Corals themselves know the difference between heat stress and chemical stress, which I found to be very interesting,' says Toshiyuki Takagi, a coral researcher at the University of Tokyo who was involved in the study. 'At present, we cannot tell from looking at corals what has caused their bleaching, but we may be able to develop a method to identify the cause from gene expression.' Toshiyuki Takagi, a coral researcher at the University of Tokyo's Atmosphere and Ocean Research Institute, looks over corals cultured at the institute in Kashiwa, Chiba Prefecture, earlier this month. | Tomoko Otake Yutaka Tashiro, a professor at Meio University in Okinawa Prefecture, conducted a sampling survey of ocean water at an Okinawa beach in the early 2010s. His team's conclusion at the time was that, while concentrations of sunscreen chemicals varied by location, time of day and the number of people, they were not high enough to have a clear impact on coral or other marine life, he says. But the negative impact of sunscreen cannot be entirely ruled out, given the increasingly harsh conditions for coral reefs, which are bearing the brunt of climate change, he says. Coral reefs provide food, shelter and spawning grounds for many marine species. They are called the 'rainforests of the sea' due to their ability to support abundant life. Coral bleaching is a phenomenon in which corals drive out the symbiotic algae living inside their tissues. While bleached corals don't die immediately, they lose the nutrients provided by such algae, and eventually die if bleaching continues. 'Corals can be reborn or nurtured after bleaching,' Tashiro says. 'One big concern is that chemical pollution (including that brought on by sunscreens) may hinder this recovery process.' Tashiro adds that mineral sunscreens — some of which use nanoparticles to remove a noticeable white cast with them — haven't proven to be completely safe for the environment, either. "Now, researchers (worldwide) are studying how zinc oxide and titanium dioxide impact the environment and organisms," he says. "It's probably less gray than chemical sunscreens, but no definitive conclusion has been drawn." While research on the environmental impact of sunscreens has been limited in Japan, some institutes affiliated with municipal governments have recently started analyzing water quality in the ocean and rivers, says Yutaka Kameda, an environmental chemistry professor at the Chiba Institute of Technology. His team also started sampling surveys of waters off an Okinawa beach last year in partnership with researchers from the National Institute of Advanced Industrial Science and Technology. He echoes Tashiro's view that the impact of chronic chemical stress on corals remains unclear at this point. Unlike industry representatives, however, Kameda considers moves by Hawaii to target oxybenzone and octinoxate 'reasonable,' citing a growing number of studies on their toxicity and endocrine-disrupting quality, mostly to humans. Meanwhile, some products with 'reef-friendly' labeling have recently come under heavy scrutiny. In March, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office in California sued the maker of the Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat sunscreens, saying it engaged in false advertising by calling some of its products 'reef-friendly' without scientific support. In March, the Santa Clara County District Attorney's Office in California sued the maker of the Hawaiian Tropic and Banana Boat sunscreens, saying it engaged in false advertising by calling some of its products 'reef-friendly' without scientific support. | Reuters The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission also sued the owner of the popular sunscreens for alleged greenwashing last month. The consumer watchdog alleges that, while the sunscreens do not contain oxybenzone or octinoxate, they contain other ingredients that either cause or risk causing harm to coral and marine life, such as octocrylene and homosalate. While there are no easy answers, Tashiro says the best approach to protecting yourself from the sun varies among people. Those engaged in outdoor work, whether in construction or marine tourism, should do everything they can to protect themselves from UV rays, including by using sunscreens, he says. For others, seeking shade and covering their bodies with breathable, long-sleeved shirts, as well as hats and sunglasses, would be a viable option. 'The idea that reducing exposure to the sun and wearing protective clothing is an environmentally friendly option should spread more widely,' he says.
