§ Mr. Bessellasked the Minister of Agriculture, Fisheries and Food if he will give an assurance that any toxic effects of detergent used to clean beaches or harbours will be less detrimental to marine life than oil pollution.
§ Mr. PeartThe detergents are generally more toxic than the oil but they are of course only being used where oil contamination has already occurred. Used in large quantities on open beaches and rocky coasts they are likely to destroy plants and animals living between tides and perhaps for a short distance below the low tide mark but local authorities have been advised to allow several tides to elapse between each spraying so as to permit the detergent to be dispersed and diluted. Other measures are being138W taken to protect estuaries where stocks of shellfish would be endangered by detergents.
Detergents used in the open sea have had no appreciable effects on the fisheries. Even on shores where detergents have been extensively used, very few dead fish have been found.