cMate-AFS Convention

International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships

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AFS - International Convention on the Control of Harmful Anti-Fouling Systems on Ships, 2001

​The Convention prohibits the use of harmful organotins in anti-fouling paints used on ships and establishes a mechanism to prevent the potential future use of other harmful substances in anti-fouling systems.

Anti-fouling paints are used to coat the bottoms of ships to prevent sealife such as algae and molluscs attaching themselves to the hull – thereby slowing down the ship and increasing fuel consumption.

In the early days of sailing ships, lime and later arsenic were used to coat ships' hulls, until the modern chemicals industry developed effective anti-fouling paints using metallic compounds. These compounds slowly "leach" into the sea water, killing barnacles and other marine life that have attached to the ship. But studies have shown that these compounds persist in the water, killing sea-life, harming the environment and possibly entering the food chain. One of the most effective anti-fouling paints, developed in the 1960s, contains the organotin tributyltin (TBT), which has been proven to cause deformations in oysters and sex changes in whelks.

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