Headline-making catastrophes like the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill off the Alaskan coast only contribute a fraction — about five percent — of the petroleum contaminating the world’s oceans every year.
Far more common and just as damaging to the environment are small-vessel sinkings like that of the Brunswick, Ga.-based shrimp boat “Captain Jack” in March 2007. Even routine boat maintenance — changing oil, cleaning bilges and emptying ballasts — accounts for nearly one-fifth of the world’s waterway petroleum pollution, according to the 1995 Smithsonian Institution exhibit “Ocean Planet.”
To help reduce oil pollution in Georgia’s coastal waters, the University of Georgia’s Marine Extension Service (MAREX) designed an educational program to help boat owners lower their polluting potential by using bilge socks.
Called “Stick a Sock in It,” the program provides workshops for using the socks, which look like floating sausage links and absorb the oil, diesel and gasoline that can leak from an onboard engine into a boat’s bilge — the compartment where water collects — and keep the petroleum’s tell-tale shiny, toxic sheen from contaminating the environment.
“Bilges — and what’s in them — are one of those out-of-sight, out-of-mind things and people are often unaware there’s a problem because the bilge pump is controlled automatically,” said Joe Tinsman, owner of Fuel Management Services in Brunswick. He received two cases of the socks from MAREX and has been giving them away to his customers when he notices fuel leaks in their bilges.
Between April 2004 and December 2006, MAREX hosted 45 bilge-sock workshops and distributed nearly 7,000 free socks to research vessels; commercial shrimp boat, tug boat and pilot boat owners; and recreational boat owners along the Georgia coast.
“We want to educate people and show them ways to be environmentally conscious, and bilge socks are convenient,” said Paul Christian, who manages the MAREX program in Brunswick. “They trap hazardous materials so they don’t escape into the environment and you can throw them away in the regular trash when they’re full.”
In response to an increase in small vessel sinkings, MAREX also distributed six emergency oil spill containment kits to marinas along the Georgia coast in February 2007. Only a month later, two of the kits were used during the sinking of the “Captain Jack.” For more information or to request a bilge sock, contact Paul Christian at 912/264-7336 or pchristi@uga.edu.
Competing
in a Global Economy
The University of Georgia is at the forefront of the globalization
movement in higher education with a wealth of opportunities for
international experiences. Our students are flocking to study-abroad
programs, thriving on the challenges inherent in confronting a
new cultural environment. More and more, students on campus are
also making choices that reflect an understanding of the importance
of global awareness—from living in a residence hall-based
language community to starting a radio program in another language
to minoring in a foreign language. These experiences, whether at
home or abroad, influence how our students perceive the world and
their place in it. We’re producing graduates prepared to
be world citizens—well informed, culturally sensitive and
technologically sophisticated. They’re ready to take on the
challenges of our global society, and they’ll be equally
at home whether in the Peach State or the Republic of Georgia. |
Routine boat maintenance—changing oil, cleaning bilges and emptying ballasts — accounts for nearly one-fifth of the world’s waterway petroleum pollution, so UGA Marine Extension designed an educational program to help boat owners lower their polluting potential.
