Warnings have been given about the environmental impact of glass fibre boats sinking in Poole Harbour.
At a meeting of BCP Council recently, resident Phil Hanchett called on BCP Council to support a campaign which aims to collect the sunken vessels in the harbour.
Speaking to councillors at the full council meeting in November, he said: “Following a recent study in Chichester Harbour it was found that derelict glass fibre boats do not biodegrade; rather they break into strands that can cause cancer in aquatic organisms and become part of the food chain in the form of microplastics.
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“Would BCP support Beach People’s second campaign, called Bad Boats, by assisting either with the collection of, or the disposal of, the derelict glass fibre boats sunk and beached around Poole Harbour?
“BeachPeople intend to work with BCP and PHC to affect a permanent solution to this problem, prevention being better than cure.”
Portfolio holder for environment, Cllr Mark Anderson said: “The short answer is a qualified yes, we are very keen to support the campaign in relation to sunken boats in the Harbour as we agree with Mr Hanchett and the BeachPeople that these are an ecological and environmental hazard and need to be removed.
“Those areas of the shoreline that is our land and used by us, we will work with the BeachPeople to develop a method for removal, this includes the greenspaces controlled by environment, and beaches controlled by destination and culture. However, there are areas which whilst council land is leased to other users and we may not be able to assist with.”
It follows calls to remove “a blight on the landscape” which had been left in Poole Harbour for more than a decade.
Old, abandoned and ruined boats had been left scattered on an area near Fisherman’s Slipway, near the RNLI Poole Lifeboat Museum for some time.
Mr Hancett also thanked the council for their support in trying to designate part of Poole Harbour as bathing water.
Work to get Whitley Lake – or Kite Beach as it is known – has now moved to the next stage with the authorities after samples and data collection.
Cllr Anderson said he was glad the work which had been done was “coming to fruition”.
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