The Ruđer Bošković Institute has completed years of research on the heavy metal emissions of copper from maritime transport, which have led to very revealing and significant results, which can be read in the recent publication, written by Hrvoje Carić, PhD and collgegues from The Ruđer Bošković Institute. The paper is published in a renowned journal Sustainability - Evaluating an Impact of Copper Emission from Antifouling Coating. In collaboration with the Institute of Tourism, an innovative approach to correlating information from different sources was implemented, allowing for an efficient and widely applicable perception of this risk. The results show that at the height of the tourist season, the concentration of "ecotoxic" copper in more inclosed parts of the sea increases up to twenty times. This is a clear indication that alternatives to the existing practise of antifouling paints need to be urgently considered and implemented to make nautical tourism less toxic.
Paper Nautical Tourism in Marine Protected Areas (MPAs): Evaluating an Impact of Copper Emission from Antifouling Coating